Vatican Stirs Up Another Controversy By Fr. Desmond de Sousa CSsR, SAR NEWS
PANAJI, Goa (SAR NEWS) -- Did the Pope really have to stir up yet another controversy? In the wake of the Linz disaster and the Richard Williamson debacle, the Vatican had to backtrack somewhat and offer explanations to ensure such “mistakes” (not usual in the Vatican vocabulary) were not repeated. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger chose the name Benedict when he was elected Pope, to unify the Church in Europe in the hope of re-christianising the continent like St. Benedict had done centuries ago. But with one gaffe after another, the Vatican and some national bishops’ conferences – like the French, German and Austrian – seem terribly out of sync. Now, a veritable hornets’ nest has been stirred in South America (Brazil) and Africa (Cameroon) respectively. In Brazil, an illiterate mother of a 9-year-old child, raped by her stepfather, was excommunicated for signing the necessary abortion document on doctors’ advice and so were the doctors. Pope Benedict XVI on his Cameroon trip has reopened another controversy on combating the spread of AIDS in Africa with an attempt to justify a policy widely consider unjustifiable, even by faith. Contrary voices on the Brazilian abortion case? A 9-year-old Brazilian girl, who was repeatedly raped by her stepfather, was expecting twins. In early March, an abortion was performed on the girl. Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho of Olinda and Recife, where the girl’s family lives, excommunicated the mother and all the members of the medical team. The row was inflamed when Archbishop Sobrinho allegedly said he had not excommunicated the stepfather because abortion was a more serious sin than rape. Archbishop Fisichella, president of the Vatican Pontifical Academy for Life, lamented the image given by the Church in this case. He stated that Archbishop Sobrinho's "hasty" reaction has caused resentment and has undermined the credibility of the Church's teaching, "which in the eyes of many seems insensitive, incomprehensible and lacking in mercy." Earlier, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Vatican Congregation for Bishops, had backed the excommunications, saying the Brazilian bishops were right to take the view that the abortion was a sin. He said attacks on them were "unjustified." Archbishop Geraldo Lyrio Rocha of Mariana, president of the Brazilian bishops' conference, publicly lamented last week that "the most repugnant aspect of this case was diluted,” given the controversy over the excommunication. The "real problem is "the increase of cases of abuse of minors in the country," a topic "on which the national conscience must be awakened." The AIDS controversy in Africa The Pope courted further controversy on his first trip to Africa by declaring, AIDS "is a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, and that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems". He said the Catholic Church was leading the fight against AIDS, but that sexual abstinence and fidelity within marriage were the answer. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office, was forced to clarify Pope Benedict’s words regarding the fight against AIDS. “The Church's priority is education, research and human and spiritual assistance, not condom distribution.” The first step is "education in the responsibility of persons in the use of sexuality and with the reaffirmation of the essential role of marriage and the family”. Second, the epidemic must be fought “with research and the implementation of effective treatments for AIDS, making them available to the greatest number of patients.” Thirdly, the response must include "human and spiritual assistance to AIDS patients, as well as to all those who suffer, who have always been in the heart of the Church.” Father Lombardi underlined the Church’s commitment to fight AIDS in these ways, noting that “to seek essentially a greater diffusion of condoms, is not in reality the best way, the broadest view or the most effective way to address the scourge of AIDS and to safeguard human life”. Two years ago there was speculation that the Vatican might amend its ban on condoms after Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the former Archbishop of Milan, said that in couples where one partner had HIV/AIDS, the use of condoms was “a lesser evil”. Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan of Mexico, the Vatican Health Minister, also said condoms could sometimes be exceptionally condoned, for example when a married woman was unable to refuse her HIV-positive husband's sexual advances. Will the Vatican and the national bishops’ conferences speak in one voice or continue to speak in different voices on such burning issues seriously affecting human life and faith?
