News

The New Cardinals and Their Statements on Life and Family

By John-Henry Westen

VATICAN, October 20, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – This morning Pope Benedict released the names of those bishops he will appoint as Cardinals in the upcoming November 20 consistory. Among the newly-named Cardinals is former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, a hero to the pro-life movement. In addition to Archbishop Burke many of those soon to don the red hat are outspoken on life and family.

LifeSitenews.com has compiled a list of some of these statements.

Archbishop Angelo Amato, S.D.B., prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints

Abortion and euthanasia are “terrorism with a human face,” said Archbishop Angelo Amato, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in an address to chaplains April 23, 2007.

Archbishop Amato referred to abortion clinics as “slaughterhouses of human beings,” and included as evils those parliaments of “so-called civilized nations where laws contrary to the nature of the human being are being promulgated, such as the approval of marriage between people of the same sexâEUR¦”

Archbishop Robert Sarah, President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”

Gender theory, the materialist philosophy that sees human sexuality as not intrinsic to the human person but as a “social construct” based on “choice,” is a “lethal ideology” and “contrary to African culture,” Archbishop Robert Sarah warned Bishops at the African synod in October 2009.

“Africa must protect itself from the contamination of intellectual cynicism in the West,” said Archbishop Sarah. “It is our pastoral responsibility to enlighten African consciences about the threats of this lethal ideology.” He warned that the ideology, “puts pressure on the legislator to write laws favorable to universal access to … contraceptive and abortion services … as well as homosexuality” as part of the concept of “reproductive health.”

Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura

Archbishop Burke’s notable life and family statements are far too numerous to quote. Of all the prelates in the Catholic Church, Archbishop Burke holds the hearts of life and family activists the world over. Two very notable contributions to the culture of life were Archbishop Burke’s own example of his willingness to deny Holy Communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians, and his insistence that Canon Law requires all Bishops to do the same.

Finally, Archbishop Burke’s defense of life and family activists from attacks from within the Catholic Church has enabled many to continue their thankless work amidst crushing opposition.

Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, Prefect Congregation for the Clergy

In September 2008 Archbishop Piacenza was one of the first bishops to praise the document Fit for Mission Church, published by UK Bishop Patrick O’Donohue. While the document created shock waves in the UK, even among clergy, by calling for a return to “authentic Catholic identity,” Piacenza called the document “an effective, practical instrument for advancing the much heralded New Evangelisation.”

Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, C.S., President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See

Archbishop June 2008, Archbishop De Paolis, was the spokesman for the refusal of the Vatican to allow the filming of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons in Rome churches. He said, as reported by The Times, that Brown had “turned the gospels upside down to poison the faith”.

“It would be unacceptable to transform churches into film sets so that his blasphemous novels can be made into films in the name of business,” he said, adding that Brown’s work “wounds common religious feelings.”

Bishop Elio Sgreccia, former President of the Pontifical Academy for Life

As head of the Vatican’s Academy for Life Bishop Sgreccia made many pro-life interventions. He appealed to spare the life of Terri Schiavo, and in 2007 he warned that the world is “marching toward a self-genocide of the human race” with the irresponsible use of biotechnologies and the widespread acceptance of the culture of death.

Under his leadership, the Pontifical Academy for Life produced a document castigating pharmaceuticals for manufacturing vaccines derived from aborted fetal cell lines.

Finally Bishop Sgreccia made a significant contribution to the pro-life movement when he insisted that he morning after pill may not be administered by Catholic physicians even in cases of rape. LifeSiteNews.com asked Bishop Sgreccia if there was an exception in cases of rape. The President of the Pontifical Academy for Life replied, “No. It is not able to prevent the rape. But it is able to eliminate the embryo. It is thus the second negative intervention on the woman (the first being the rape itself).”

Other Archbishops named by the Pope include:

Antonio Naguib, patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts,
Francesco Monterisi, archpriest of St Paul’s Outside the Walls,
Fortunato Baldelli, major penitentiary of the Roman church,
Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
Paolo Sardi, pro-Patron of the Order of Malta,
Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture
Medardo Joseph Mazombwe, archbishop-emeritus of Lusaka (Zambia)
Raul Eduardo Vela Chiliboga, archbishop-emeritus of Quito (Ecuador)
Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa
Paolo Romeo, archbishop of Palermo
Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington
Raymundo Damasceno Assis, archbishop of Aparecida
Kazmierz Nycz, archbishop of Warsaw
Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo
Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising
Archbishop Jose Manuel Estepa Llaurens, Military Ordinary-emeritus of Spain
Msgr Walter Brandmuller, president-emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for Historical Sciences
Msgr Domenico Bartolucci, director-emeritus of the Sistine Choir