Vatican backs excommunication of Brazilian MDs

[Snowgoose]

Where do I even begin.....

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/03/0 ... ml?ref=rss

Vatican backs excommunication of Brazilian MDs over child's abortion
Last Updated: Saturday, March 7, 2009 | 1:09 PM ET
CBC News

A Vatican cleric is defending a Brazilian archbishop's decision to excommunicate several doctors who performed an abortion last week on a nine-year-old girl who became pregnant with twins after alleged sexual abuse by her step-father.

"It is a sad case, but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated,'' Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re told the Italian daily La Stampa.

"Life must always be protected. The attack on the Brazilian church is unjustified," Re was quoted as saying. He also heads the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

The controversy erupted when media reported that a nine-year-old girl from the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco had had an abortion to remove twin fetuses. The girl and her family learned she was 15 weeks pregnant when she went to hospital complaining of pains.

The girl, who has not been identified, told authorities her step-father had sexually abused her since age six. The 23-year-old step-father is currently in police custody.

Doctors performed the abortion Wednesday, saying they feared the pregnancy could kill her because of her slim frame.

Upon learning of the abortion, the regional archbishop excommunicated the doctors, as well as the girl's mother. He did not excommunicate the step-father, saying the crime he is alleged to have committed, although deplorable, was not as bad as ending a fetus's life.

"The law of God is higher than any human laws," Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho said in an interview on Globo television. "When a human law is against the law of God, that law has no value."

Abortion is illegal in Brazil, which has more Catholics than any other country. However, it can be carried out before the 20th week of pregnancy if the mother's life is deemed in danger or if the baby was conceived through rape.

The controversy has continued up the government and religious hierarchy, with Brazil's president and his ministers coming out in support of the girl.

On Friday, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva denounced the church's strict interpretation of the law.

"The doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl of nine years old," Lula told news outlets.

That, in turn, brought out counter-condemnations from the Vatican.

"Excommunication for those who carried out the abortion is just," Cardinal Re said.

[North Shore]

...And that is why there should always be a separation between Church and State..

[grimey]

Love the Catholic church... kill 2 people, because just killing one would be bad.

[sky's the limit]

I want to puke.

How much more do we have to put up with before people chime to the fact religion is a myth?

9yr old RAPE victim??? Really? Get over your selves...

stl

[bmc]

Too bad the Catholic church wasn't this vocal about priests molesting children. I guess times have changed.

[Driving Rain]

I want to puke.

How much more do we have to put up with before people chime to the fact religion is a myth?

9yr old RAPE victim??? Really? Get over your selves...

Too bad the Catholic church wasn't this vocal about priests molesting children. I guess times have changed.

I couldn't agree more with both you guys.

Something else for us all to consider on this International Womens Day.

http://www.faithfreedom.org/Announcement/601081013.htm

Nazanin, 17, was sentenced to death by hanging for defending herself against three rapists.

A young girl who defended herself and her chastity against three male assailants who intended to kidnap and rape her causing injury to one of them who later died in hospital was condemned to death by hanging in an Islamic court in Iran. Nazanin who has seen no more than 17 Springs, all of which under the tyrannical rule of the Mullahs is now facing execution for trying to defend herself and her honor.

No where in the world and under no law self defense is considered to be a crime, but in the tyrannical mullacracy of Iran if a woman does not resist rape she will be stoned as adulterer and if she does she will be hanged.

Nazanin, this young innocent girl, was assaulted by three criminal men in the West of Tehran while strolling with her niece in a park last March (2005). To defend herself she pulled out a knife and stabbed one of her assailants. The knife penetrated the ribs of her attacker who later died in the hospital. The attacks on women in Iran is so frequent that many are forced to carry a concealed weapon for self defense. Unfortunately the Islamic law does not even allow women that right.

http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/ir ... lave_trade
http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/C9291.aspx

[Changes in Latitudes]

I want to puke.

How much more do we have to put up with before people chime to the fact religion is a myth?

9yr old RAPE victim??? Really? Get over your selves...

Too bad the Catholic church wasn't this vocal about priests molesting children. I guess times have changed.

I couldn't agree more with both you guys.

Something else for us all to consider on this International Womens Day.

http://www.faithfreedom.org/Announcement/601081013.htm

Nazanin, 17, was sentenced to death by hanging for defending herself against three rapists.

A young girl who defended herself and her chastity against three male assailants who intended to kidnap and rape her causing injury to one of them who later died in hospital was condemned to death by hanging in an Islamic court in Iran. Nazanin who has seen no more than 17 Springs, all of which under the tyrannical rule of the Mullahs is now facing execution for trying to defend herself and her honor.

Disgusting. This is the kind of garbage that I have been losing sleep over lately. But it will eventually pass, and I will go back to worrying about my mortgage, my stupid job and just about every other meaningless piece of distraction I can conjure up.