In today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern, Moe Lane of Red State joins in for political commentary.
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Pope lectures Pelosi on abortion stance
Pope lectures Pelosi on abortion stance. Heck, yeah:
After their meeting the Vatican issued a statement that read:
“His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.”
The statement emphasizes that the church considers life to begin at conception and that legislators such as Pelosi are “enjoined” to work to create laws that “protect life at all stages of development.”
Here’s the Vatican statement:
“Following the General Audience the Holy Father briefly greeted Mrs Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage.
His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.”
Moe:
Based on what I wrote earlier, I’m thinking that while the Church is hopeful to avoid a confrontation in the American Church over abortion, it is not expectant that they can avoid it. Ed Morrissey is right when he notes the use of the word “consistent” in the above: it’s in direct contradiction to the excuse Pelosi uses to justify her heresy on abortion. I keep using the term “heresy” here because that’s what it is, by the way: pro-choice Catholics are not having a debate with the Church on this doctrine, much as they’d like to pretend otherwise. That would imply that the Roman Catholic Church recognizes their right to have a variant opinion on this topic and still be a good Catholic, which it pointedly does not – which is why Benedict XVI made sure to have this statement sent out.
If there’s any doubt whatsoever as to the Catholic Church’s position on abortion, hopefully this clarifies it.
Roundup and more commentary at The Anchoress.
Pelosis on the move
Having turned off the lights, handed out “the Chavez rule“, brought in the gourmet menu, and engaged in Hermes scarf diplomacy, Nancy Pelosi got on her private jet and headed to Rome.
Now we hear Pope Benedict to meet Pelosi
In a move likely to stoke more controversy about whether Catholic politicians who support abortion rights are in line with the church, Pope Benedict XVI has granted an audience to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The Catholic News Agency confirmed Monday that Pelosi (D-Calif.) is to meet Wednesday with Pope Benedict XVI, who has said supporters of abortion rights should not receive Communion.
Here is what Pelosi has said about abortion:
Ed posted a transcript:
REP. PELOSI: I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator–St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know. The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose. Roe v. Wade talks about very clear definitions of when the child–first trimester, certain considerations; second trimester; not so third trimester. There’s very clear distinctions. This isn’t about abortion on demand, it’s about a careful, careful consideration of all factors and–to–that a woman has to make with her doctor and her god. And so I don’t think anybody can tell you when life begins, human life begins. As I say, the Catholic Church for centuries has been discussing this, and there are those who’ve decided…
She lied. Pure and simple, lied.
Any practicing Catholic (ardent or not) knows that the Catholic Church is unequivocal about abortion, and it has been for the length of the Church’s existence.
In addition to her eccentric lies about abortion and the Catholic Church, Pelosi also claims that
“Communion is the body of the people of the church coming together,” Pelosi said at her weekly news conference after returning from the mass. “I feel very much a part of that.”
Maybe in some Protestant churches but in the Catholic Church the Eucharist is a sacrament,
“the source and summit of the Christian life.” “The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch.”
What that means, in plain English, is that you either accept all the doctrines of the Catholic Church (abortion included), or you don’t have Communion.
Catholic dogma is not a salad bar. You don’t get to pick and choose.
Let’s hope Nancy had time to brush up on her Catechism while the private jet was flying her there. Oh, to be a fly on that wall
It’s always exciting when a notorious heretic meets the Pope.
The Anchoress was praying for Nancy a while ago.
While her mother’s in the Vatican, Nancy Pelosi’s daughter has a documentary coming up on HBO. How such a piece gets on a major cable network remains for speculation, considering that Michael Leahy calls it “This is less a documentary than a reason for a snarky laugh track.”
I don’t think Nancy will be doing much laughing while visiting Pope Benedict.
The Pope doesn’t wear Prada…
… says The Manolo, who found it at Times on Line:
According to Vatican sources the Pope’s shoes are made by a cobbler from Novara called Adriano Stefanelli, who makes them from calf or kid for the winter and nappa leather for the summer. Papal shoe repairs are carried out by Antonio Arellano, a Peruvian shoemaker in the Borgo, the medieval quarter next to St Peter’s. The article, on “Ratzinger’s Liturgical Vestments”, was written by Juan Manuel de Prada, the noted Spanish writer and author of The Tempest, who is not related to the fashion company. De Prada said that the image of the German-born Pope as concerned with “frivolity” was at odds with the truth, which was that he was a “simple and sober” man. Suggestions to the contrary were “stupid and banal”.
And here I thought Shakespeare wrote The Tempest.
In one of life’s coincidences, Novara is the town I was referring to when I wrote this post four years ago.
I’m still on vacation so instead of the WSj’s 5 best books links, please buy Steve‘s cookbook:
Not Prada, and definitely not Papal, today’s shoes, perfect for the beach:
Pope Benedict’s speech at the UN
Late last evening I was discussing with a friend Pope Benedict’s speech at the UN.
She, a practicing Catholic, was ver moved by his words.
I, a lapsed Catholic, was not.
And here’s the reason why:
I firmly believe that the Declaration of Independence is a moral document because for the first time in the history of mankind a document stated,
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Right, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
At the UN, Pope Benedict’s position was that human rights derive from a “sense of justice built primarily upon solidarity”:
Experience shows that legality often prevails over justice when the insistence upon rights makes them appear as the exclusive result of legislative enactments or normative decisions taken by the various agencies of those in power. When presented purely in terms of legality, rights risk becoming weak propositions divorced from the ethical and rational dimension which is their foundation and their goal. The Universal Declaration, rather, has reinforced the conviction that respect for human rights is principally rooted in unchanging justice, on which the binding force of international proclamations is also based. This aspect is often overlooked when the attempt is made to deprive rights of their true function in the name of a narrowly utilitarian perspective. Since rights and the resulting duties follow naturally from human interaction, it is easy to forget that they are the fruit of a commonly held sense of justice built primarily upon solidarity among the members of society, and hence valid at all times and for all peoples. This intuition was expressed as early as the fifth century by Augustine of Hippo, one of the masters of our intellectual heritage. He taught that the saying: Do not do to others what you would not want done to you “cannot in any way vary according to the different understandings that have arisen in the world” (De Doctrina Christiana, III, 14). Human rights, then, must be respected as an expression of justice, and not merely because they are enforceable through the will of the legislators.
Unfortunately a “sense of justice built primarily upon solidarity” is exactly what generates the mentality where the UN Human Rights Council, and the UN World Conferences Against Racism, continue to condemn Israel and the US.
Now the Huffington Post presumes to dictate doctrine to the Pope
Pope Should Start “Spiritual Renewal” with Bisexual God because, according to Robert McElvaine,
the Church’s positions on them are not based on the teachings of Jesus
If one goes by McElvaine’s article, the teachings of the Church are based on the teachings of a a few gnostic “gospels” and a Puerto Rican guy named Heh-SOOS who sells ice cream in Old San Juan, for all he cares.
I know, I know, one shouldn’t lapse into sarcasm when reading such crap. Clearly I should see a doctor for a refill of Sarcasma. And pray to Saint Jerome, patron saint of bloggers.
Fortunately for the rest of us, Professor Bainbridge takes up the challenge and gives a well reasoned response:
In order to make that claim, of course, McElvaine has to make a move that puts him outside the mainstream of historical Christianity; namely, he has to argue that the Gospels do not fairly represent the teaching of Jesus. Otherwise, he stumbles over the recorded references to Christ referring to God as “Father.” If McElvaine wants to rewrite the Bible, as Thomas jefferson did, he is free to do so. At that point, however, he ceases to be part of what can fairly be called the Christian faith. Instead, he’s off in some Gnostic heresy.
Prof. Bainbridge links to Matthew Berke‘s 1996 essay, which reminds us that
There can be little doubt that, for Judaism, divine parenthood is better symbolized by fatherhood than motherhood, or at least that fatherhood is far less problematic than motherhood. In Genesis, God – like a father – generates outside of Himself. In the creation myth of feminine deities, however, everything emerges from the womb of the Mother God, conveying a sense that the world is an emanation or extension of the divine, and therefore divinized, as in pantheism. But at the very center of Jewish monotheism is the denial of a divinized nature: Nature is good, because God has made it so, but nature is not divine, and human beings are not made of godstuff.
On a side issue, McElvaine presumes to know better, as do others who strive to diminish the importance of men in society. We all need a father, and whether McElvaine, feminist theory, or Heh-SOOS the ice cream vendor like it or not, only a man can be a father. Failing to recognize so has terrible consequences for all.
Following the HuffPo’s article, Catholics have stormed their doors and are demanding the beheading of those who insult God.
Oh, wait, maybe not…
The Anchoress is doing an excellent job of covering/commenting on the Pope’s visit. Click on the photo for the BBC’s story on the Pope’s arrival.
Papal bitterness, Rezkorama update
Obama’s Marxist Underpinnings. Is it any wonder he said what he said?
Before you get all upset over that statement, go read I Guess Adding One And One Is Now Forbidden, where Gaius quotes from the New Republic, that arm of the Vast Right Wing Consipiracy and Military Industrial Complex all in one.
The Chicago Sun Times continues to report on the Auchi-Rezko ties to Obama: Obama on Auchi in his own words and that April 2004 party came up during the Rezko trial. Rezko Witness Leaves New Questions about Obama Real Estate Deal Unanswered. Much more at Rezkorama.
Also don’t miss Obama’s Terrorist Ties.
(h/t Larwyn)
Resurrection and Baptism
Happy Easter to all friends and visitors of this blog.
Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On this holy day, Pope Benedict makes a highly significant and symbollic gesture:
At an Easter vigil mass in St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday night the Pope baptized Magdi Allam, 55, a Muslim-born convert who is one of Italy’s most outspoken journalists.
Allam, a fierce critic of Islamic extremism and a strong supporter of Israel, is protected by a police escort because of threats he has received.
WELL-KEPT SECRET
His conversion to Christianity was a well-kept secret, disclosed by the Vatican in a statement less than an hour before the Easter eve service started on Saturday night.
“For the Catholic Church, each person who asks to receive baptism after a deep personal search, a fully free choice and adequate preparation, has a right to receive it,” it said.
Allam defended the pope in 2006 when the pontiff made a speech in Regensburg, Germany, that many Muslims perceived as depicting Islam as a violent faith.
The Vatican statement announcing Allam was joining Catholicism said all newcomers were “equally important before God’s love and welcome in the community of the Church”.
Allam, who has been living in Italy for 35 years, has said he was never a very devout Muslim. Still, his conversion to Christianity came as a surprise.
“What amazes me is the high profile the Vatican has given this conversion,” Yaha Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, vice-president of the Italian Islamic Religious Community, told Reuters.
Gateway Pundit links to the photos
As this article reminds us,
The role of Christian theology is not to reconcile the diversity of ‘creeds,’ to find in Islam ‘Christian seeds’ and ‘biblical seeds,’ to engage in dialogue, but to proclaim the Christian message
The Pope has reaffirmed this role.
(h/t The Baron)
UPDATE
Muslim Converted by Pope Says
Life in More Danger
ROME – An outspoken muslim author and critic of Islamic fundamentalism who converted to Christianity at the hands of Pope Benedict said on Sunday he realised he was in greater danger but he has no regrets.
“I realise what I am going up against but I will confront my fate with my head high, with my back straight and the interior strength of one who is certain about his faith”, said Magdi Allam.
…
Writing in Sunday’s edition of the leading Corriere della Sera, the newspaper of which he is a deputy director, Allam said: “… the root of evil is innate in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictual”. Allam, who is a strong supporter of Israel and who an Israeli newspaper once called a “Muslim Zionist,” has lived under police protection following threats against him, particularly after he criticised Iran’s position on Israel.
This week’s WSJ’s Five Best Books, selected by Gabriel Schoenfeld:
This week’s shoes: the very pretty Geox Sarah sandal, perfect for showing off a pedicure . . . once the temperatures allow it:
Pat has the Easter Carnival of the Insanities
