“In 2008, he similarly said: “I’m prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception.”
It’s unclear what changed but his statement came amid a whirlwind of controversy surrounding how Biden adhered to his Catholic faith in office.
The section of the Catholic Catechism discussing abortion says that the procedure and infanticide “are abominable crimes.”
It reads: “The inalienable rights of the person must be recognized and respected by civil society and the political authority.” The Catechism also warns that “when the state does not place its power at the service of the rights of each citizen, and in particular of the more vulnerable, the very foundations of a state based on law are undermined.”
Biden has long maintained that the government shouldn’t force particular beliefs on Americans. That’s part of the reason he supported the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding for most abortions. But amid pressure in the 2020 campaign, he reversed his decades-old stance on the issue.” foxnews
Comment: Adherence to the Catholic faith is not like a Chinese Menu. You do not get to choose between Columns A & B for that which you choose to accept. Those self-serving hierarchs (bishops) who choose to tolerate hypocritical and self-serving politicians are despicable. They are every bit as bad as the swine McCarrick (molester of boys) who is now on trial for his crimes. pl
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-changes-position-life-begin-conception
This thing floating around on the internet…
A Twitter thread that undermines the core argument against abortion has gone viral causing a stir from those on both sides of the debate.
Science fiction author and journalist Patrick S. Tomlinson challenged one of the central notions used by ‘pro-lifers’ that life begins at conception, and that therefore, a human embryo holds the same value as a human child.
Speaking to his 25,000 followers, Tomlinson says that a decade ago he came up with a scenario which shuts down the idea, and that in all that time he’s never had an honest answer.
“Whenever abortion comes up, I have a question I’ve been asking for ten years now of the ‘Life begins at Conception’ crowd. In ten years, no one has EVER answered it honestly,” Tomlinson tweeted.
He goes on to explain a scenario whereby you are in a fertility clinic when the fire alarm goes off. Before you escape, you have the option to save either a five-year-old child who is pleading for help, or a container of 1000 viable human embryos.
“Do you A) save the child, or B) save the thousand embryos?“ he asks.
“There is no ‘C.’ ‘C’ means you all die.”
I would save the child but only because one of those embryos might grow to become a Science fiction author with 25,000 followers.
cofer
Great answer, though the question wasn’t on point point.
“Those self-serving hierarchs (bishops) who choose to tolerate hypocritical and self-serving politicians are despicable.” Well said Col and Biden should be refused.
AF, that’s got to be the weakest argument I’ve ever read. But to a Catholic, creating 1,000 embryos would be a grave sin. But even if one wants to argue about “at conception”, how about at viability?
We are all sinners. Church doctrine is to deny the Eucharist only to those who commit a mortal sin.
Let Biden and other Catholic Democrats risk their own salvation by partaking in communion. Would you also deny them access to Penance at the confessional?
If a molester-of-boys such as Mr McCarrick can receive the sacrament then why deny anyone that opportunity?
Leith
You are just being perverse.
I have acquaintances who faced this problem. She fell pregnant, the foetus was tested for defects in the womb. The foetus had cystic fibrosis. Turns out both of them have a rare form of the gene.
Much agonising over abortion six months ago and they decided at the clinic door to go ahead and have the baby. He was born last week.
We will see.
Walrus,
“Fell pregnant ” is a rather unique phrasing. Do you mean she does not understand how a woman becomes pregnant? I wish her, and her child, luck.
Fred, my choice of words, they are married and the husband is the son of a very close friend. Both are Catholics and the wife is Irish. The husband was brought up in Italy and Australia.
When they discovered the CF diagnosis and that both carried an apparently rare form of the CF disorder gene, they told all of us.
There was a lot of debate, emotional as you would expect, between everyone but ultimately the choice was theirs.
With great difficulty they decided on abortion but on reaching the clinic on the appointed day, the husband broke down in tears or came to his senses depending on your point of view.
The baby boy was born last week, I had the photos on Wednesday. The CF disorder is apparently a rare type. No one can gauge its severity yet and of course treatments are getting better, he could be lucky. At least his parents gave him a chance.
I’ve come to believe that all life is precious, defects, syndromes and all. There are no guarantees and the joy that can come from a disabled child may surprise you. A friend’s niece was born with cystic fibrosis and is in her thirties today. It’s been tough but she is beautiful and has been successful in life. There are new gene therapies for CF and she participates in a trial program. Your friend made the right choice. As my Irish mother said,”Let go. Let God.”
That was a common phrase from my late Irish mother-in-law.
If what is called for is backbone on the part of the US College of Bishops, I would prefer to see them exercise it with regard to issues of war and peace, where that broad phrase includes condemning actions such as sanctions, and malevolent propaganda, as acts of war, or in any event, acts contrary to Catholic doctrine.
Isn’t it a violation of the Eighth Commandment to tell lies about another nation, especially when the desired effect is grievous harm to the people of that nation?
Artemesia
You obviously do not believe in the reality of Transubstantiation.
After over seven decades of forming my beliefs on the very Baltimore Catechism you spotlight, Transubstantiation is not the only one of the Church’s doctrines that has been reduced to irrelevance by the hierarchy’s crass violations of less-philosophical, less faith-driven, more flesh-and-blood and Sermon on the Mount matters of human interaction.
So you don’t buy any of that Sermon on the Mount stuff? That’s God’s word… and pretty important ones at that. Not accepting those words would make you a cafeteria Catholic who doesn’t even like cafeteria food.
Indeed. I have often reflected myself on the failure of the Church and the Pope in particular to condemn the obvious sins of the powerful politicos causing wars and destruction, such as the stealing of oil in Syria and burning of crops, leading to serious food deprivation for Syrians and indeed the sanctions that hurt the innocent.
I often question where in the Bible is there a get of of jail card for the commandment that “Thou shalt not kill”? I have had this discussion many times with my son, that in the Bible there is no exemption from this commandment. I understand that the Church has put forward the teaching of the just war, but somehow, I’m not convinced. In any case, have we ever heard in recent times the Church pass judgement on any of the wars which have brought so much destruction in our lifetimes? Not in my lifetime anyway, as far as I am aware. These are questions which, as a youth, kept this Catholic raised former altar boy Irishman from the full embrace of the Church, even tho’ educated by the Irish Christian Brothers.
Razor
You may be interested in the writings of Archbishop Viganò. He exposed the coverup of McCarrick’s crimes in 2018 and is a staunch critic of Pope Francis and progressivism in the church. His latest thoughts – on the relationship between the deep church and deep state are here. A warning; his views are not for the faint of heart.
While he is stating what is the right thing to do right now due the developing of events, at the same tiem, he concludes that peacful resistance a la Ghandi only will be useful at first moments, since, in the end, no tyrant has ever been overthrown without the use of force….
Since this is a powerful person who can reach the masses, and so on point on the need of uniting against this world wide tirany, he should then forget for a while about ideology, and try to find the common ground for all the resistence to unite, since it is not communism what they are trying to bring in, but an amalgam of the worst and most oppresing of every known system humanity has faced..
The Catholic Church’s present teachings on abortion are clear. Life begins at conception. I gather that means human ensoulment occurs at conception. At different times the Church declared different times in a pregnancy when ensoulment occurred and abortion was no longer allowed. At one time this ensoulment did not occur until the mother felt the fetus move, about 16 weeks into pregnancy. In 1582, Pope Sixtus V issued a papal bull declaring any abortion was homocide, much like today’s stance. That only lasted six years until Pope Gregory XIV, in 1588 rescinded the bull and declared abortion to only be homicide if it took place after ensoulment, which he determined took place 166 days into a pregnancy. Pope Pius IX reversed that decision yet again in 1869 and made abortion after conception a sin. That’s where we stand now.
The Church also considers any artificial means of contraception and conception to be mortal sins. That means those thousand in vitro embryos in Ahmed Fhares’ thought experiment were the product of sin. Again, does that mean those embryos do not undergo ensoulment? How about any of the many test tube babies now walking the Earth? Does the Catholic Church not consider them to have human souls? I can’t imagine that to be acceptable, but I don’t know for sure.
There is also the case of certain Irish saints with miraculous abortions counted as holy miracles. That does not mean they performed abortions as some abortion rights activists claim. But it does mean the Catholic Church held different views on abortion over her history.
The Church also considers capital punishment to be “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” and deem it “inadmissible” in all cases. Former AG Barr should worry about his ability to continue to receive the Eucharist over that one.
Finally, Catholics should remember the lessons of the sermon on the mount which many consider to be the essence of Christianity. Can one continue to be considered a Catholic in good standing if those lessons are not followed? I remember some Trumpists to recently declare they were goats and not sheep referring to the parable of the sheep and the goats. Did they really think that through? For those who aren’t familiar with that parable here it is. (Matthew 25:31-46)
God judges the sheep on his right hand ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’
He tells the goats on his left hand ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels because the selfish “goats” did none of those things.”
What´s your take on the new Buttigieg twins? Have they a soul or are soulless?
https://www.rt.com/usa/533978-pete-buttigieg-chasten-children/
Why do they not get their twins in a business office, where they made the order, and perform a kinda natural birth in a hospital bed?
This is all part of the full hologram and impersonating of roles in society to cause wide human confussion so that people lose its North the so called Great Reset at all levels is about…
PG
Of course they have souls.
Paola, not only do the Buttigieg twins have souls, but all those test tube babies now walking the Earth also have souls if my meaning wasn’t clear to you. They are all children of God, as are Pete Buttigeig, his husband and their children’s surrogate mother(s).
The Church does consider surrogacy a sin, but I haven’t found it condemned as stridently and completely as abortion. I don’t know if that’s reflected in the official doctrine of today’s Church. Commercial surrogacy is outlawed in some countries, but not in the US, obviously.
After seeing some of the works of St. Catherine of Sienna first hand and later attending a very wet Sunday morning service in St Marks, I am less inclined to write off the Catholic Church as a gigantic protection racket as good protestants are taught.
I have to reappraise what is meant by suffering.
re: Transubstantiation
It’s interesting to note that seven-in-ten U.S. Catholics hold the Protestant view on the Eucharist.
[quote]
Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ
Transubstantiation – the idea that during Mass, the bread and wine used for Communion become the body and blood of Jesus Christ – is central to the Catholic faith. Indeed, the Catholic Church teaches that “the Eucharist is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’”
But a new Pew Research Center survey finds that most self-described Catholics don’t believe this core teaching. In fact, nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion “are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31%) say they believe that “during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.”
In addition to asking Catholics what they believe about the Eucharist, the new survey also included a question that tested whether Catholics know what the church teaches on the subject. Most Catholics who believe that the bread and wine are symbolic do not know that the church holds that transubstantiation occurs. Overall, 43% of Catholics believe that the bread and wine are symbolic and also that this reflects the position of the church. Still, one-in-five Catholics (22%) reject the idea of transubstantiation, even though they know about the church’s teaching.
[end quote]
There’s more at the link: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/05/transubstantiation-eucharist-u-s-catholics/