Speaking in Angola during a weeklong tour of Africa, Pope Benedict XVI on Friday condemned sexual violence against women and criticized moves by some African countries to legalize some abortions, the AP/Google reports. In a speech in Luanda, Angola, Benedict said, "Particularly disturbing is the crushing yoke of discrimination that women and girls so often endure, not to mention the unspeakable practice of sexual violence and exploitation, which causes such humiliation and trauma." He also condemned the "irony of those who promote abortion as a form of 'maternal' health care," adding, "How disconcerting the claim that the termination of life is a matter of reproductive health." According to the AP/Google, the pope's comments referred to an African Union agreement signed by Angola and 44 other countries stating that abortion should be legal in cases of rape, incest or when the woman's life is in danger. Angola, a former Portuguese colony, is predominantly Catholic, with about 8.6 million residents, more than 60% of the population, who are members of the faith. Traditionally, Angolans have had large families, but in recent years many have cited the country's high cost of living as a reason for wanting to curtail family growth, according to the AP/Google (Simpson, AP/Google, 3/20).
Vatican Official Speaks Out Against Excommunication Over Abortion for Brazilian Girl
In related news, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the top bioethics official for the Vatican, said that excommunication was unwarranted in the case of two Brazilian doctors who performed an abortion on a nine-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by her stepfather, the Religion News Service/Washington Post reports. Fisichella's statement on the abortion case was the lead article in a recent issue of the official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano. The abortion case stirred controversy when the local archbishop, Josa Cardoso Sobrinho, excommunicated the doctors and the mother of the girl for allowing the abortion, which was performed when the girl was about 15 weeks pregnant. The doctors said carrying the pregnancy to term would have been life-threatening for the girl, who weighed 80 pounds. Fisichella, who did not address the excommunication of the girl's mother, said that although abortion is an "intrinsically wicked act," it might have been the lesser evil under the circumstances. He stressed that a degree of moral discretion is required for doctors, a position that is in contrast to the church's usual stance on abortion, the Religion News Service/Post reports. "The life was in serious danger because of the pregnancy in progress," he wrote, adding, "How to act in these cases? An arduous decision for the physician and for the moral law itself."
According to the Religion News Service/Post, Fisichella's article included a "frank rebuke" of Archbishop Sobrinho, accusing the archbishop of rushing to declare excommunication. Fisichella wrote that Sobrinho's action affected the "credibility" of the church's teaching, adding that now the church "appears in the eyes of so many as insensitive, incomprehensible and lacking in mercy." The Religion News Service/Post reports that Vatican journalist Sandro Magister said it is likely that Fisichella's statement was approved by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who as secretary of state is considered to be the Vatican's second highest official after the Pope. Fisichella's statement contradicts Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, who publicly defended the action of Archbishop Sobrinho (Rocca, Religion News Service/Washington Post, 3/21).
Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.
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