(LifeSiteNews) – Dissident Father James Martin took to Twitter on Sunday to share his thoughts on the landmark overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court, and said that a baby “about to be born” is different than an unborn child just after conception.
Had I written my own statement it would probably have said three things that I believe to be true: First, all life is sacred and is to be reverenced as a gift from God. Second, a one-minute-old zygote is not the same as a nine-month-old baby about to be born…
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) June 26, 2022
Martin also said that “women have consciences that must be heard, listened to and respected.”
The Catholic Church teaches: “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.”
And: “From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.”
READ: Cdl. Müller: Father James Martin’s LGBT propaganda is ‘heresy’
“Direct abortion, that is to say abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law,” states the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which cites the first-century Didache: “You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.”
It is not clear what Martin meant by saying that zygotes were different than full-term babies, especially in light of the Church’s teaching that there is equal dignity in human life from the moment of conception.
Well-known Daily Wire pundit Michael Knowles, a Catholic, responded to Martin’s tweet by poking fun at Martin’s claim that he is “not a moral theologian.”
“I’m not a moral theologian.” —Fr. James Martin
Fact check: TRUE https://t.co/LHjxq0D9BO
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) June 26, 2022
Martin also intimated that his views are different than the views of the Jesuits saying: “… those are only my beliefs and I don’t speak for the Society of Jesus.”
And third, women have consciences that must be heard, listened to and respected. But those are only my beliefs and I don’t speak for the Society of Jesus. And since I’m not a moral theologian, I tend not to share them that frequently….
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) June 26, 2022
The Jesuits released a statement on the day Roe v. Wade was overturned stating: “The Society of Jesus in the United States welcomes the Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Roe v. Wade.”
The priestly society also wrote: “Abortion is a massive injustice in our society and today’s ruling is a critical step toward the legal protection of all unborn children.”
Although Martin did say that “all life is sacred and is to be reverenced as a gift from God,” he did not say that he welcomed the legal protection of the unborn like the Jesuits did in their official statement.
RELATED: Fr. James Martin appears to defend transgender puberty blockers for children
The dissident Jesuit met Pope Francis in 2019 and in May 2022 delivered a letter from the Pope wherein Pope Francis decried a “selective” Church of “pure blood.”
In addition, Pope Francis praised Father Martin in a hand-written letter in June 2021, citing Martin’s “pastoral zeal” in his work which includes efforts to normalize LGBT ideology in the Church.
In an interview last week with LifeSiteNews editor-in-chief John-Henry Westen, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that Martin’s LGBT activism is “absolutely heresy.”