Catholics

A Catholic pro-life activist is criticizing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and others who have declared passage of the Stupak amendment to the House healthcare bill a pro-life victory.

Catholic bishops and other right-to-life groups have praised House approval of the Stupak amendment that bans federal funding of abortion in the public health insurance option, but Judie Brown of the American Life League (ALL) says the amendment is a "terrible defeat" for pro-lifers. Brown reports that the Stupak amendment would still permit taxpayers to pay for some abortions.

"It will allow taxpayers to pay for abortions in the cases of rape, incest, life of the mother, and quite possibly even more than that," the ALL president contends.  read more »

The Vatican took the bold step Tuesday of announcing a new and simplified process for thousands of disaffected conservative Anglicans to join the Roman Catholic Church en masse.

In a news conference held Tuesday in Rome, Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia, secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, announced that Pope Benedict XVI had approved an "Apostolic constitution" to streamline the conversion of Anglicans.

The document will permit traditional Anglicans - many of whom reject female bishops and priests as well as the growing acceptance of homosexuality in the 77-million-member Anglican Communion - to maintain their liturgies and their clergy if they swear allegiance to Rome...

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- The Vatican ambassador to the United Nations told the international body on Monday that there is no international "right" to abortion. Its ambassador told UN delegates on Monday that people should be considered the world's greatest resource instead of the pro-abortion notion that there are too many.

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, permanent observer of the Holy See at the United Nations, presented the position in an address on population and development at the 64th session of the U.N. General Assembly.

According to a Zenit report, he said abortion advocates were wrong to conclude at the Cairo conference 15 years ago "that a population explosion was going to occur and hamper the ability to achieve adequate global economic development"...

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- In a column appearing in the liberal magazine Salon today, former "Catholics for a Free Choice" president Frances Kissling is renewing her bid to kick the pro-life Vatican out of the United Nations. Kissling is a relentless abortion advocate who dislikes that the Catholic Church advocates pro-life principles.

Kissling tries to make the case that the Vatican isn't really a state and therefore shouldn't have permanent observer status at the United Nations.

Deal Hudson, a prominent Catholic writer, offers his input on Kissling's column.

"Kissling has been trying to get the Vatican booted from the UN for years," he notes...

(CNSNews.com) - One day after the White House contradicted an assertion by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that all current versions of the health-care bill permit funding of abortion, the Catholic bishops declared they would “vigorously” oppose the bill if it was not changed to include language to prohibit abortion funding.

On Sept. 30, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which represents the approximately 300 active bishops in the United States, sent a letter to members of the U.S. Senate in which the bishops said: “So far, the health reform bills considered in committee, including the new Senate Finance Committee bill, have not met President Obama’s challenge of barring use of federal dollars for abortion”...

(CNSNews.com) – The health care bills currently under consideration in the House and Senate do not bar federal funds from being used to pay for abortion, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explains in a Sept. 30 letter sent to members of the Senate.

“So far, the health reform bills considered in committee, including the new Senate Finance Committee bill, have not met President Obama’s challenge of barring use of federal dollars for abortion and maintaining current conscience laws,” states the letter. “These deficiencies must be corrected”...

(CNSNews.com) - When asked whether he agreed with Cardinal Justin Rigali, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' pro-life committee, that the House health care bill funds abortion and needs to be amended to prohibit abortion funding, Cardinal Roger Mahony told CNSNews.com that the issue of abortion funding in the health care bill is “way beyond my field.”

When asked whether he believed abortion should be funded under the bill, Cardinal Mahony said: "No, but that's what the president said, too, so."

Mahony is the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles. Rigali is the Roman Catholic archbishop of Philadelphia...

(CNSNews.com) – A Catholic church in San Francisco was recently vandalized apparently by pro-homosexual marriage activists, and part of the blame for the damage rests with Mayor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, according to the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

“This was not an isolated event in terms of how San Francisco treats Catholics,” Susan A. Fani, communications director for the Catholic League, told CNSNews.com. “For a city that’s very open and into diversity, we find that it is a hostile atmosphere for Catholicism”...

CNN called Bishop Stephen Blaire of the Stockton Diocese, requesting an interview Monday. St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Modesto had all four of its receptionists answering calls throughout the day. The church even had to add a special link to its Web site to accommodate the surge of e-mail comments.

The attention stems from a Nov. 21 letter from the church's pastor, the Rev. Joseph Illo, to his parishioners that referred to President-elect Barack Obama's stance on abortion...

Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards recently claimed that most Catholics are pro-abortion.

LifeNews.com reports Richards said 54 percent of Catholics voted for Obama in the recent election. But Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League (ALL), disputes that statistic, claiming there were some disturbing pre-election events. He cites one example in Philadelphia...