Brazil rocked by abortion for 9-year-old rape victim
Church excommunicates mother and doctors – but not accused rapist
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Declaring that "life must always be protected", a senior Vatican cleric has defended the Catholic Church's decision to excommunicate the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old rape victim who had a life-saving abortion in Brazil.
Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re, who heads the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, told reporters that although the girl fell pregnant after apparently being abused by her stepfather, her twins had, "the right to live, and could not be eliminated".
In an interview with the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, the cardinal added: "It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons. Life must always be protected."
Police believe the girl was sexually assaulted for years by her stepfather, possibly since she was six. That she was four months pregnant with twins emerged only after she was taken to hospital complaining of severe stomach pains.
The controversy represents a PR nightmare for the Vatican. The unnamed girl's mother and doctors were excommunicated for agreeing to Wednesday's emergency abortion yet the Church has not taken formal steps against the stepfather, who is in custody. Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, the conservative regional archbishop for Pernambuco where the girl was rushed to hospital, has said that the man would not be thrown out of the Church, because although he had allegedly committed "a heinous crime", the Church took the view that "the abortion, the elimination of an innocent life, was more serious".
The case has set off fierce debate in Brazil, where abortion is permitted only in cases of rape or a medical emergency. Brazil is one of the most populous Catholic countries, but conservative attitudes in rural areas are strongly at odds with the relatively progressive public view of abortion in major cities.
Even the President, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, has waded into the row. "As a Christian and a Catholic, I deeply regret that a bishop of the Catholic Church has such a conservative attitude," he said "The doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl of nine years old. In this case, the medical profession was more right than the Church."
One of the doctors involved in the abortion, Rivaldo Albuquerque, has raised the prospect of public clashes at his local church, telling Globo, the nation's main TV network, that he would keep going to mass there, regardless of the archbishop's order. The young girl at the centre of the case escaped excommunication only because she is still a child in the eyes of Church authorities. The stepfather, who is 23, was arrested last week, apparently trying to escape to another region of the country. Police say he is also suspected of abusing the girl's handicapped 14-year-old sister. He is in protective custody, and if convicted faces up to 15 years in prison.
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Comments
This man is a disgrace to the Church, but he's had the official blessing of some highly-placed Cardinals in the Vatican.
No wonder the Catholic Church is utterly despised and rejected. What SCUM they truly are!!!
All this religious nonsense does far more harm than good. We'd be much better off without it.
I am tired of feeling the pressure to respect other people "faiths", etc. If we encounter a member of a cult like Aum Shinrikyo or the Unitarians we can comfortably blow them off, but if they are part of one of the larger and more socially acceptable cults like the Catholic church we are supposed to pretend that the nonsense they spew is reasonable and must be "respected". Tiresome.
http://theunpeople.blogspot.com/
It seems to me that roman catholicism - as portrayed in this appalling case and in the vast number of others involving child abuse in many countries - is antithetical to the central message which most people with the slightest knowledge of christianity have: it comprises forgiveness, compassion and understanding.
Thus to argue, as roman catholic authorities do, though the evidence clearly contradicts them, that it somehow represents the one 'true christian church' is a complete nonsense. What right has one nation-state which the Vatican is, to dictate terms to the citizens of another? Oh I forgot, the vestiges of the 'holy' roman empire remain intact thanks to a 20th century Facist dictator!
Allowing these patriarchal and antedeluvian attitudes to pervade a modern nation is equally clearly an anathema, no more so then selectively quoting 'god's law' as the basis for how we should properly conduct ourselves vis a vis others.
Please let it be communicated to the Archbishop of Pernambuco and the Pope that I stand by what I said and wished to be excommunicated on a fast track. Also, they should know that besides common sense which favours this abortion, the pelvic of a 9-year old girl is not yet developed to be able to withstand the safe delivery of twins. Or what are their plans? That the girl should be sliced open in a caesarean operation?
These idiots are bunch of frustrated fools who have lost all realities with life. The fact that they did not see anything wrong in the fellow who raped an innocent girl turns my stomach. Instead, they think it is appropriate to excommunicate the doctor and the girl's mother. By the way, what will they lose if they are excommunicated? Nothing!
As an aside, the rapist and his 'understanding' Archbishop should both be castrated in the public square so that they can understand how repugnant we (normal people) truly are.
The Lord must have defecated into his brain case.
Now, if that were true, there wouldn't have been any need to excommunicate the mother and the doctor. Unless you think delivering twins by a 9 year old is a risk free endeavor.
Through god's silence, can one infer that he/she/it approved of the abuse?
What an omnipotent idiot god is, if there is such a thing.
Humans really are completely nuts.
A fetus is not considered a person hence is not baptized except conditionally since nobody knows when the soul enters to body.
Only a woman has the right to determine the destiny of her own particular body and its cells and cell formation--and if she elects to discontinue fetal cell fetal development it is her right--not the choice of any man. It is not a baby. It is a choice--one that is up to the woman carrying the evolving matter.
One can only hope that the Catholic Church and Vatican will come to its senses (I won't hold my breath on that). It beggars belief that in this elightened age an institution like the Catholic Church can still have such outdated ideas. I am particularly appauled by their attitude to the step father. However, I guess it demonstrates the attitudes of many in the heirarchy of the Catholic Church who still want to see females be they 9 or 90 under the dominance of men. After all the Vatican has done little if anything to resolve the issue of Priests and documented child abuse.
Shame on you the Vatican !
http://www.uaff.us/religion.htm
Let me ask each of you some questions: What religion are you? A Muslim? A Catholic? A Christian? A Jew?.......Were you born a Muslim, a Catholic, a Jew, or a Christian? Or did you choose that religion for yourself at some point after long and painful deliberation and intense study of all religions in order to make the wisest choice for yourself? Almost all people are not born a Muslim, a Catholic, or a Christian, but born to Muslim parents, Christian parents, Catholic parents and so on..... So if you were born in India you might be a Hindu, if you were born in Italy you might be a Catholic, if you were born in Iran you might be a Muslim and if you were born in the USA you might be a Christian. So where you were born most likely dictates what religion you will belong to, and also what religion your parents belong to effects these outcomes. What does this tell you? Well it tells me allot!
This article is about the hypocrisy of a religion that would rather have people catch AIDS than wear a piece of rubber and excommunicate the doctors who perform an abortion on a 9 year old rather than excommunicating the rapist. Sickening doesn't even begin to describe it.
But most importantly, the "outcry" of anti-abortion groups are simply pathetic! I agree that the constant abortions are sinful and that it is definetly going against the natural law of life, but in THIS case?! Why are you condeming INNOCENT girls, just like this case, for abortion? Who are you to say that the girl should risk her life giving to the children she didn't mean to have?? Who are you to say that she has to face the guilt and pain in the eys of her children, if she did decide to keep the twins, for the rest of her life?! Are you doing ANYTHING about these psychological sufferings the girl will have? I believe that the anti-abortion groups should get their facts straight and stop being so single-minded to what they tihnk is "wrong" when it is not even the girl's fault. Stop judging based on black and white, the world is full of grey.
Thank goodness BTW that little boys can't get pregnant.
This recalls the days when mothers were sacrificed in difficult pregnancies to save the life of the unborn
who would go to hell if unbaptised. I would think God would be able to make a few exceptions to the Churches rules
The Pope should take action over this he is after all numero uno
Why the defence of the innocent should be seen as a PR nightmare for the Vatican is beyond me.
I presume that you see excommunication as a punishment. Therefore, you are saying that it is right to punish people for saving lives, because that is all that the doctors have done.
The reason that this is a PR nightmare is that the Vatican is not defending the innocent who are the child, her mother and the doctors. They are defending a system of controlling people, the Catholic church. This is not about caring for people at all, it is about maintaining power over them.
If you cannot see this, you are an ideal member of their church; naive, blinkered and accepting of authority. Exactly the sort of sheep that allow this stultifying hegemony to persist.
The point to be made here is that the Catholic Church are displaying only arrogance, hypocrisy and out-dated disdain for the innocent little girl. The man in question is a dispicable example of humanity, and deserves the most severe punishment.
"Life must always be protected..."? What about the life of that little girl? The pregnancy would have undoubtedly have killed her - the abortion saved her life. But now are her scars not enough to bear? Must she bear the stigma for the rest of her life? It is a disgrace. Would the Church rather she give birth to two bastard children?
Why is this priest still working? Who still attends his masses? Why is the pope not involved? Where is the outcry from catholics everywhere?