Last week we reposted excerpts from a letter sent to the newly inaugurated pro-abortion President Joe Biden from Archbishop José Gomez in which the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), offered his prayers to Mr. Biden and his family but also offered a reminder “that our new President has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity.”
The first policy Archbishop Gomez cited was abortion.
Today, we’re reposting comments from a January 22 statement issued by Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City. Archbishop Naumann is chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities. We are also reposting from a column Archbishop Naumann wrote for The Leaven, his archdiocese’s newspaper.
First, the statement, in response to President Biden’s and Vice President Kamala’s Harris’ statement describing the Roe v. Wade decision as “an advancement of women’s rights and health.”
“It is deeply disturbing and tragic that any President would praise and commit to codifying a Supreme Court ruling that denies unborn children their most basic human and civil right, the right to life, under the euphemistic disguise of a health service. I take this opportunity to remind all Catholics that the Catechism states, ‘Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.’ Public officials are responsible for not only their personal beliefs, but also the effects of their public actions. Roe’s elevation of abortion to the status of a protected right and its elimination of state restrictions paved the way for the violent deaths of more than 62 million innocent unborn children and for countless women who experience the heartache of loss, abandonment, and violence.
“We strongly urge the President to reject abortion and promote life-affirming aid to women and communities in need.”
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Then this lengthy but very important section from his column for The Leaven:
Today marks the 48th anniversary of the Supreme Court decisions that legalized abortion on demand throughout the United States. More than 60 million American children have been killed by abortion over the past 48 years. The fathers and mothers of these aborted children are not unscathed by the deaths of their daughters and sons.
Just a year ago, Pope Francis in a meeting with the bishops of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska reminded us that abortion is not primarily a religious issue, but a human rights issue.
The Holy Father said that in his dialogue with those who support abortion, he always asked two questions: 1) Is it ever right to kill a child to solve a problem? 2) Is it ever right to hire someone to kill a child to solve a problem?
One of the positive achievements of the Trump presidency was the appointment of many well-qualified federal judges and three Supreme Court justices who recognize and respect the limits of the courts’ authority. Their responsibility is to judge cases based on their compliance with the U.S. Constitution, not to invent rights and/or impose their personal philosophical beliefs on the nation.
President Trump also accomplished much through his cabinet appointments, executive orders and the interpretation and implementation of regulations that resulted in protecting unborn children, religious freedom and conscience rights.
During the campaign, President Biden promised not only to keep abortion legal but even to force taxpayers to fund abortion. He promised to renew government efforts to force the Little Sisters of the Poor to provide abortifacients in their lay employee health plans.
I hope that these are promises our new president will fail to keep. We must pray for President Biden to have a conversion of mind and heart on this most fundamental of all human rights issues.
It is a scandal to have a president who proudly professes to be a devout Catholic and at the same time has, in essence, pledged to be the most pro-abortion president in our history.
We need to pray for our new president, Joseph Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, that the Lord will bless them in fulfilling their responsibilities to lead our country.
We need to pray for the good of our nation that the Lord will bring forth blessings from a Biden presidency.
Based on his proposed cabinet appointments and the promises he made during the campaign, I anticipate the next four years will be very difficult and I will have to disagree vigorously with several of President Biden’s policy initiatives.
In a democratic republic, we need to be able to debate vigorously and honestly important public policy issues.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.
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