Excommunication of 9 year old girl by Roman Catholic Church
Back in March 2009 a nine-year-old Brazilian girl was raped apparently by her stepfather. She became pregnant with twins. She underwent an abortion in the 15th week of the pregnancy. The director of the public university hospital where the abortion was performed said the girl was at serious risk. The girl weighed only 80 pounds. A lawyer for the Archdiocese said the girl should have carried the fetuses to term and have a Caesarean section.
“It’s the law of God: Do not kill,” the lawyer said.
Abortion is illegal in Brazil. [Huffington Post]
At first the Roman Catholic Church tried to prevent the abortion. When it was performed anyway Archbishop, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, declared that the girl’s family, as well as the doctors who performed the abortion, were automatically excommunicated, including the young girls’ mother. The girl was excluded from excommunication because of her age. [Feministing]
Monsignor Rino Fisichella tried to soften the Church’s approach on the Brazilian case by writing in the Vatican’s official newspaper L’Osservatore Romano that the girl “should have been defended, hugged and held tenderly to help her feel that we were all on her side.” [Time]
In a tucked away “clarification” published on page 7 of a recent edition of L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican produced a document that unequivocally confirmed automatic excommunication for anyone involved in an abortion – even in such a situation as dire as the Brazilian case. It settles any questions about the absolute nature of Church doctrine on the matter of abortion – but could potentially reignite the PR firestorm.
P. Z. Myers who authors Pharyngula wrote:
The church is standing firm on principle.
…there is a more important principle at stake. “We have laws, we have a discipline, we have a doctrine of the faith,” the official says. “This is not just theory. And you can’t start backpedaling just because the real-life situation carries a certain human weight.” Benedict makes it ever more clear that his strict approach to doctrine will remain a central pillar to his papacy, bad publicity be damned.
I see. Dogma is more important than reality, and most surprisingly for representatives of a religion that claims the moral high ground, it is more important than human needs.
Everyone should simply leave that evil institution — tell them they can keep their bricks and their real estate, their gold chalices and their gilt robes, their layered assemblage of celibate perverts, meddling old men, and fearful brides of Christ, and let that human element walk away, free of their superstitions. The church doesn’t want that human weight, anyway.
I’m not a Catholic, but I find the treatment of this matter by the Church as revolting. I have to agree with Myers.
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