Pope Francis appealed to politicians to defend the lives of unborn babies in remarks to Italy’s Pro-Life Movement at the weekend.
In remarks ahead of Italy’s ‘Day for Life’, he said, “I take this opportunity to appeal to all politicians, regardless of their faith convictions, to treat the defense of the lives of those who are about to be born and enter into society as the cornerstone of the common good”.
“Voluntarily extinguishing life in its blossoming is, in every case, a betrayal of our vocation, as well as of the pact that binds generations together,” he said.
Regarding the unborn of unborn children, he said: “Their killing in huge numbers, with the endorsement of States, is a serious problem that undermines the foundations of the construction of justice, compromising the proper solution of any other human and social issue,” he said.
Pope Francis said protecting life is not a one-off action but means protecting every aspect of a person’s life. “Taking care of life”, he said, “requires that attention be paid to living conditions: health, education, and job opportunities. In short, it includes everything that allows a person to live in dignity.”
He added: “When life itself is violated at its emergence, what remains is no longer the grateful and enchanted welcome of a gift, but a cold calculation of what we have and what we can use. Then even life is reduced to a one-time-use consumer good”.
Despite growing secularisation, there are more than 28,000 Catholic schools in Europe, educating over 8,500,000 pupils—almost one-third of primary and secondary students on the continent. This reality was highlighted by Paul Meany, a former principal of Marian College, Dublin (1988-2017), and current chairman of the Le Chéile Education Trust in an op-ed in the Irish Times last week.
The popularity of the schools and institutional support from States is such that even in secular France, almost 20 per cent of the population attend non-governmental Catholic schools which contract to meet the State’s requirements in teaching the national curriculum, have autonomy to employ Catholic teachers and to educate pupils in the Catholic faith as part of the characteristic spirit/ethos of the schools, and are funded by the State to almost the same level as French public schools.
Indeed, it is a consistent feature of State policy in most European countries, and it reaches equality in Scotland and in the Netherlands where Catholic schools receive exactly the same funding as public schools.
Research indicates that there are four characteristics of Catholic schools that resonate with parents that accounts for their popularity: (a) they have an academic structure and culture which is sometimes referred to as ‘bookishness’; (b) they create strong internal communities; (c) they have devolved governance and autonomy; and, of course, (d) they have the inspirational Gospel message which gives the school community a sense of mission and purpose.
The results of a wide-ranging study that surveyed the attitudes of people in as many as 35 countries suggest that happiness is tied to being religiously active.
According to the study, “Religion’s Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health Around the World,” issued Jan. 31 by the Pew Research Center people who are active in religious congregations tend to be happier and more civically engaged than either religiously unaffiliated adults or inactive members of religious groups
The research findings suggest that societies with declining levels of religious engagement could be at risk for declines in personal and societal well-being. And mere religious affiliation, rather than active engagement, was, by itself, not associated with a greater likelihood of personal happiness or civic involvement.
People in the State of Colorado are being rallied by a local Catholic Archbishop to fight a bill to require all public and charter schools to use a comprehensive sex-ed curriculum that both “contradicts human nature and is inconsistent with Christian values.” Last week the Oireachtas Education Committee said that religious ethos must not be allowed to ‘interfere’ with the delivery of RSE programmes that include abortion information and gender theory.
Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila said. “We know that God made us male and female, in his image and likeness, but the comprehensive curriculum route which most schools will likely adopt teaches innocent children this is not true.”
A similar kind of bill died a death in Argentina late last year when it was rejected as an imposition of gender ideology. Thousands marched in cities in opposition to the bill under the motto “Don’t mess with my children,” [Con mis hijos no te metas], a non-confessional movement born in Peru as a way to fend off what the Church, and Pope Francis himself, has long dubbed “gender ideology.”
A provision in law that married spouses cannot be compelled to testify against each other was described in the Dáil on Wednesday as an ‘anomaly’.
Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan alleged that it is an anomaly that the same protection is not offered to people who are living with each other, particularly, he said, given how ‘modern Ireland exists’.
He suggested the disparity might be resolved by eliminating the provision for married spouses.
The provision stems from the special protection given to marriage in the Constitution, which has itself been criticised in the past by Leo Varadkar as ‘discriminatory’.
The issue came to prominence when a trial judge in 2012 allowed that the cohabiting girlfriends of two accused could not be compelled to give evidence. That decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal this month, though it said that the legislature could extend the non-compellability provision to civil partners and cohabitants if it so wished.
A French Court has asked for an advisory opinion from the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on surrogacy law. The practice is illegal in France and the country even places restrictions on the practice of couples who engage in surrogacy arrangements in other countries and then bring a child back to France. Specifically, the country refuses to issue new birth certs naming the commissioning couple as the parents of a child born of surrogacy in a foreign country. That was appealed to the European Court of Human Rights and the Court ruled that the commissioning couple’s rights were not contravened. However, in respect of the children, the Court ruled that they should have their genetically related father registered as their father. Several reviews of the case followed in domestic French courts. Now, the French Court of Cassation has asked for an advisory opinion of the non-genetically related “commissioning mother.”
A bill in the US state of Virginia would allow abortion right up to the point of birth. In a legislative hearing earlier this week, the sponsor of the bill confirmed that an abortion could be requested even during labour.
The following day, the Democratic Governor of the State, who supports the legislation, said that a baby born alive could be left to die unless the mother requested that the child be resuscitated. Speaking on a local radio station about third trimester abortions, he said, “If a mother is in labour, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he continued. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
It is one of a number of Democrat-party-controlled States that are considering, or have already passed, legislation to make abortion easily available right up to the point of birth.
A woman is challenging the prohibition on abortion in Northern Ireland where the unborn child is suffering from a serious life-limiting condition. Sarah Ewart, from Belfast, claims the near-blanket ban violates her human rights.
Last year a majority of Supreme Court judges held that the North’s abortion laws breach the UK’s human rights obligations. But they still rejected the case mounted by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission because it did not have the necessary legal standing.
Ms Ewart has now brought a challenge in her own name, as a woman directly affected by the current strict regime.
