The hypocrisy of a dying church

The Catholic Church continues to show its contempt and misogyny last week when two people in Brazil were excommunicated. The Vatican has endorsed the recent decision.

A senior Vatican cleric has defended the excommunication in Brazil of the mother and doctors of a young girl who had an abortion with their help.

The nine-year-old had conceived twins after alleged abuse by her stepfather.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re told Italian paper La Stampa that the twins "had the right to live" and attacks on Brazil's Catholic Church were unfair.

Because that's what's unfair in this scenario! Poor RCC is being attacked!

The callousness of the Church's treatment of a 9 year old rape survivor is almost beyond belief. It would be beyond belief if it wasn't for the revelations of the past twenty years showing that there was a clear policy of non disclosure of abusive and pedophile priests. Instead rape and sexual abuse survivors are ostracized.

This is that same organisation that would shame pregnant and unmarried women and girls from the pulpit, announcing their sins to the congregation. This was nicely followed by locking them up, physically abusing them and separating mother and child after delivery.

This is the same organisation that reputedly colluded with Nazi Germany and blessed Mussolini on his way to commit genocide.

This is the organisation that reassigned pedophile and abusive priests.

This is the organisation that forgives murderers, rapists, torturers and mass murderers

This is the organisation that excommunicated a doctor and a mother for providing and allowing an abortion to a 9 year old child pregnant with twins through incestuous rape.

The rapist has not been excommunicated.

Natalia is absolutely right in her assertion that abortion is not the issue

Here’s a fact: abortion has always existed. It wasn’t particularly safe and it certainly wasn’t something you spoke about in mixed company, but the truth is - women have been choosing to end their pregnancies for thousands of years. For as long as it was done secretly, for as long as the sluts stood a good chance of bleeding to death - few people actually worried about the so-called moral implications of abortion.

Of course, the minute a rape victim or anyone else can have access to a safe abortion, it becomes an issue of BUT WHAT ABOUT THE INNOCENT BABY???

Deborah at the Hand Mirror is absolutely right

This is just appalling on so many grounds: a child was raped and impregnated, in such a way that her own life is seriously at risk, and even then, some celibate man in a dress thinks that she shouldn't have an abortion.

I was born and bred and educated in the Catholic church, and I had always understood that from the church's point of view, while abortion was a great evil, that if the mother's life was in danger, then abortion was permissible, even if regrettable. I guess even that's too much for women-hating bishops. And they've moved on from hating women. Now they hate girl children too.

There is commenter, ZenTiger, at Deborah's place who is asserting among other misogynist crap, that he knows of two girls ages 8 and 9 who survived pregnancy. My answer is so what? The fact that this person had to go digging to find justification is horrible but that doesn't change the fact that a 9 year old girl's body cannot bring twins to term without significant danger. In all probability all three children would die. This is all beside the point anyway.

Why should a person be forcibly pregnant? Why should a mother be excommunicated for upholding her daughter's wishes and acting in her best interest? What should a doctor be excommunicated for saving the life of his patient? What business does the RCC have interfering in a private medical matter. Shame

This is an attempt by a rapidly declining church to regain control. This is an attempt to stand in moral judgement over a legal matter.

As Matthew 7:5 states

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.