(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland argues that abortion should be framed as a “human” issue and not just a “Catholic” issue, and discusses abortion law in the context of an encyclical by Pope Pius XI dealing with Christian marriage.
Referring to a tweet that he posted in response to Students for Life president Kristen Hawkins on how the Republican Party platform and the “pro-life generation” demand a total end to abortion, His Excellency said, “If we understand what abortion is, the taking of a human life, then we can’t say, ‘Well, you can take a few,’ or ‘If they’re young enough, yeah, you can kill them.’ I mean, that makes no sense. And I understand that … we have to take … the best laws we can get. We can’t just settle and say, ‘Oh, yeah, well, we can’t give up the ground.’ I mean, it really is a battle, and we’ve got to battle for every child in every life.”
Also reacting to the recent veto of a born-alive bill in Kansas by pro-abortion Democrat Gov. Laura Kelly, Bishop Strickland argued that abortion should be discussed as a human issue, and not just a Catholic issue.
“It’s not a Catholic issue. It’s not, ‘Oh, well these believers.’ It’s a humanity issue,” he says. “We’ve gotten so used to abortion being the law of the land. And now people think infanticide. I mean, that’s barbaric. That is just inhuman to say, ‘This child … nobody wants them, so they can be killed.’ Where does it stop?”
Later on in the show, Bishop Strickland discussed abortion law in relation to a 1931 encyclical by Pope Pius XI called Casti Connubii, dealing with Christian marriage.
The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAV) has described assisted suicide as sometimes being the “greatest common good concretely possible” contrary to the Catholic Church’s strenuous condemnation of the practice.
This betrayal of the Catholic faith by Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia is not for the first time, with the PAV repeatedly causing scandal under his watch by:
- recently appointing a notorious pro-abortion atheist to the organization
- claiming contraception and artificial insemination are sometimes acceptable
- insisting that priests could accompany people through assisted-suicide, and
- that Italy’s pro-abortion law is a “pillar” of the country’s social life.
SIGN: Pope Francis must remove Abp. Paglia from the Pontifical Academy for Life
“Personally, I would not practice suicide assistance,” Archbishop Paglia told an Italian journalism conference last week, “but I understand that legal mediation may be the greatest common good concretely possible under the conditions we find ourselves in.”
Accepting an anti-life Italian court ruling that specified when assisted-suicide is permitted, the archbishop claimed “it is not to be ruled out that in our society a legal mediation is feasible that would allow assistance to suicide under the conditions specified by Constitutional Court Sentence 242/2019…”
From the outset of his presentation in Perugia, Paglia also undermined the authority of the Catholic Church on matters of faith and morals, stating: “First of all, I would like to clarify that the Catholic Church is not that it has a ready-made, prepackaged package of truths, as if it were a dispenser of truth pills.”
SIGN: Abp. Paglia must be removed from the Pontifical Academy for Life
The PAV issued a statement on Monday trying to clarify the archbishop’s remarks, insisting that Paglia “reiterates his ‘no’ towards euthanasia and assisted suicide, in full adherence to the Magisterium”.
However, far from denouncing Paglia’s words, the PAV unsurprisingly supported its president. Referencing the Italian court ruling which partially decriminalized euthanasia by outlining exceptions to its illegality, the PAV stated it was in the context of this ruling that Paglia had made his comments.
In this precise and specific context, Msgr. Paglia explained that in his opinion a ‘legal mediation’ (certainly not a moral one) in the direction indicated by the Sentence is possible, maintaining the crime and the conditions under which it is decriminalized, as the same Constitutional Court has asked Parliament to legislate.
The PAV’s fudging of the issue was met with consternation from several Catholic commentators, with liturgist Matthew Hazell, who had highlighted Paglia’s original comments, asking “How hard is it for the @PontAcadLife to just say ‘sorry’ for scandalising the faithful? Indeed, how hard is it to actually adhere to the teaching of the Church on life issues? Are you so incapable of reading the signs of the times & interpreting them in the light of the Gospel?”
The Pontifical Academy for Life has tried & failed to explain @monspaglia‘s remarks. Paglia had spoken about the “accompaniment” needed for the dying, saying “in this context, it is not to be ruled out that in our society a legal mediation is feasible …” https://t.co/C3LU601aA2
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) April 24, 2023
Sorry guys, not good enough. Nowhere near good enough.
Archbishop Paglia’s “opinion” on the possibility of “juridical mediation” regarding euthanasia is still contrary to the Catholic faith, as has been explained already. https://t.co/qMATq0UZrL pic.twitter.com/W8s4zLvkj7— Matthew Hazell (@M_P_Hazell) April 24, 2023
Archbishop Paglia’s comments about assisted suicide being “feasible” are wrong and harmful. It’s the kind of “crack in the wall” that opponents of human life will run with to promote their agenda. The teaching of the Church is clear: Euthanasia is “morally unacceptable.” Period.
— Bishop Thomas Tobin (@ThomasJTobin1) April 24, 2023
SIGN: Abp. Paglia’s presidency of the Pontifical Academy for Life is untenable
It’s vital that the Church and PAV push back against the culture of death, rather than trying to accommodate it and accept a world that where the vulnerable are helped to kill themselves.
Be part of pushing back against the tide and making it clear that there is no room for confusion or betrayal when it comes to the sanctity of human life and the infallibilty of Catholic teaching on the matter.
SIGN AND SHARE THE PETITION WITH FRIENDS & FAMILY
MORE INFORMATION:
Abp. Paglia defends assisted-suicide as ‘greatest common good possible’ for dying people – LifeSiteNews
According to His Holiness, “Those who hold the reins of government should not forget that it is the duty of public authority by appropriate laws and sanctions to defend the lives of the innocent, and this all the more so since those whose lives are endangered and assailed cannot defend themselves.”
“Among whom we must mention in the first place infants hidden in the mother’s womb,” Pius XI continued. “And if the public magistrates not only do not defend them, but by their laws and ordinances betray them to death at the hands of doctors or of others, let them remember that God is the Judge and Avenger of innocent blood which cried from earth to Heaven.”
Bishop Strickland, commenting on the encyclical, said, “What the Pope is teaching is for humanity, for all leaders, for all those who hold the sacred duty of providing a lawly society … [The first paragraph] applies across the board … ‘The lives of the innocent, and this all the more so since those whose lives are endangered and assailed cannot defend themselves.’ That applies in so many different situations. And he goes on to make it very clear that applies to the infant hidden in the mother’s womb. And we’re so far from that truth, it’s tragic for humanity. It’s not just a Catholic Church thing. It’s for all humanity.”
“We need to be vigorous about sharing the truth and proclaiming the truth, not apologizing for it, not compromising it away,” His Excellency continued. “And … you can say desperate times call for desperate measures. And I think the desperation means we must desperately teach the truth and the love of God. We don’t attack anyone. We proclaim the truth, that it’s about protecting everyone and remembering the sacred life that every person possesses given by God.”
For this and more, tune in to this week’s episode of The Bishop Strickland Show.
To watch all previous episodes of The Bishop Strickland Show, click here to visit LifeSite’s Rumble page dedicated to The Bishop Strickland Show.