Articles for Month: March 2009

Tiller could still lose his medical license

By Kathleen Gilbert March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – American Cardinal Daniel DiNardo has criticized the decision of the Catholic University of Notre Dame to honor President Barack Obama by inviting him to be this year’s commencement speaker and awarding him with an honorary doctorate. The Cardinal said that the “disappointing” invitation “requires charitable but vigorous critique.” The Cardinal’s remarks constitute the highest-ranking criticism yet from a member of the Catholic Church hierarchy against the University’s decision. So far three other American bishops have criticized the invitation, including the bishop of the diocese where Notre Dame is located, Bishop John D’Arcy. In […]

By Kathleen Gilbert VANCOUVER, B.C., March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two more bishops have acknowledged that Lenten collection money slated for the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) will be withheld until the organization proves it has not been funding pro-abortion groups. The statements come after a LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) investigative report, as well as several follow-up reports, provided evidence that D&P has been sending money to pro-abortion and pro-contraception groups in at least two Latin American countries, and in several countries in Africa. A statement from Archbishop J. Michael Miller of Vancouver states on the diocesan website that D&P will […]

Commentary by Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer, President, Human Life International FRONT ROYAL, VA, March 27, 2009 (HLI) – It is no secret that pro-lifers over the years have been greatly burdened by the general lack of support by many of the members of our clergy on life issues, but until now, we have been able to rely on the various Vatican offices for a clear, consistent and correct defense of life. A statement made two weeks ago by an official of the Vatican about an abortion case in Brazil, however, has raised more than a few eyebrows, and is causing […]

By John Jalsevac WASHINGTON, D.C., March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Today Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to receive the highest award given by the Planned Parenthood Federation of America – the Margaret Sanger Award, named for the organization’s founder, a noted eugenicist.  “The 2009 Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) Margaret Sanger Award, the organization’s highest honor, will be presented to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been a champion of women’s health and rights throughout her public service career,” says a Planned Parenthood press release about the event. The award will be presented at a […]

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski MELBOURNE, March 27, 2009 (LifeSIteNews.com) – Archdiocese of Melbourne spokesman James O’Farrell told the Melbourne Herald Sun today that Corpus Christi Catholic seminary is instituting the recommendations of the Vatican to use psychological testing to screen for homosexual tendencies in men who are considering a vocation to the Catholic priesthood. The testing is used to not only identify men with “deep-seated homosexual tendencies,” but also to identify men for whom the burden of celibacy is too great and will cause emotional disturbance even if they manage to keep their vows. In a 2008 Vatican document approved […]

By Kathleen Gilbert WASHINGTON, D.C., March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A spokesman for the U.S. Department of State earlier this week stated that this $50 million in federal funds this year will go to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).  While the UNFPA says its activity in China has mitigated the country’s coercive one-child policy, a recent on-the-ground investigation by the Population Research Institute (PRI) has confirmed the conclusion of a 2001 federal investigation that UNFPA is complicit in China’s coercive population control tactics. State Department Spokesman Robert Wood issued a statement Tuesday confirming that the State Department will fund […]

By Kathleen Gilbert and John Jalsevac WICHITA, Kansas, March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Kansas jury has declared late-term abortionist George Tiller not guilty on 19 counts of performing illegal late-term abortions. Tiller was accused of breaking a non-affiliation law that required an independent doctor to sign off on late-term abortions, verifying that the abortions are needed to save the life of the mother or avoid major bodily harm.  The prosecution alleged that Tiller’s close association with abortionist Ann Kristin Neuhaus, to whom Tiller regularly sent patients to receive the requisite second opinion, turned Tiller’s facility into a “one-stop shop” for […]

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski TBILISI, Georgia, March 27, 2009 LifeSiteNews.com) – The head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, has come up with an astonishingly successful incentive to counteract the country’s plummeting birth rate. To encourage families to have more children the Patriarch has promised to personally baptize any baby born to parents who already have two or more children. The BBC reports that the results have been, in the words of the Georgian Orthodox Church, “a miracle,” with the country’s birth rate increasing by nearly 20% during 2008 – a rate roughly four times higher than the previous […]

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski March 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The American Family Association (AFA) is calling for a boycott of soft drink giant PepsiCo over its support of pro-homosexual groups, in particular the homosexualist group known as Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). PFLAG has recently begun a campaign against an organization that helps ex-homosexuals to return to a normal lifestyle, called Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX). Donald E. Wildmon, founder and Chairman of the AFA, said in a press release that, “By issuing national press releases against PFOX, by organizing protests at ex-gay conferences, […]