Pope: Abortion Is 'Homicide,' Democrats Who Support It 'Accept Daily Murder'
Pope Francis slams politicians who claim to be 'Catholic' but support abortion
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Pope Francis had condemned Democrat politicians who support abortion in no uncertain terms, warning they are supporting "homicide" and "accept daily murder."
The pope was speaking on the topic of politicians who claim to be Catholic while publicly supporting abortion.
During a flight back to Rome from Slovakia, Francis spoke with reporters in response to Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Joe Biden - both of whom claim to be Catholic - attacking new anti-abortion laws in Texas.
He told reporters that the Church has no plans to change its teachings on abortion, but that Catholic leaders should seek to counsel abortion-supporting politicians privately before taking the extreme step of excommunicating them from the Church.
“Answering questions aboard the papal plane from Bratislava, Slovakia, to Rome on Sept. 15, the pope emphatically said that abortion ends a human life and that human life must be respected,” EWTN News reported.
“Abortion is more than an issue. Abortion is homicide,” Pope Francis said, definitively.
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"It’s a homicide," the pope asserted.
"No middle terms. Whoever does an abortion, kills.”
The Church, Pope Francis added, will remain strict on the issue.
The pope's comments come despite the pro-abortion push from "Catholic" politicians like Biden and Speaker Pelosi (D-CA), who claim that their conscience leads them to support “reproductive rights” and publicly support, not just the right to obtain an abortion, but take affirmative action to protect abortion as a practice.
"Scientifically it’s a human life,” Pope Francis noted.
"The textbooks teach us that.
"But is it right to take it out to solve a problem?
"And this is why the Church is so strict on this issue because it is kind of like accepting this is accepting daily murder."
The theology of the issue, he added, is “simple.”
As for whether to deny a pro-abortion politician the ability to participate in communion, the pope was less decisive, suggesting that bishops and priests should seek to be pastoral and counsel those who seem confused about Church teachings because a pastor’s responsibility does not end when an individual has been excommunicated or has excommunicated themselves by disagreeing publicly with core dogma.
"The problem is pastoral, how do we, as bishops, manage this principle,” Pope Francis said.
"If we look at the history of the Church, we will see that every time the bishops acted not as pastors in a problem, they became politicians.
"And what should the pastor do?
"He shouldn’t go around condemning," Francis said.
"And he must also be a pastor with those who are excommunicated and be so with God’s style, which is closeness, compassion, and tenderness,” he added.
"Those people who are not in the community cannot take communion, because they are out of the community. It is not a punishment: Communion is linked to the community.”
Pope Francis was responding to a question specifically about the U.S. Catholic bishops’ plan to issue pastoral guidance on the subject of denying communion to pro-abortion politicians.
Although the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops determined, weeks ago, to compile the guidance, the issue has arisen more forcefully in recent weeks, with both Biden and Pelosi expressing support for efforts to overturn a Texas “heartbeat” bill that effectively outlaws abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy, when fetal cardiac activity can be detected.
Both Biden and Pelosi claim to be Catholic, but both openly support abortion.
Biden recently confirmed that his thoughts on the subject have evolved from when he claimed, in 2012 to be personally against the practice.
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Both Biden’s and Pelosi’s local archbishops, who would ultimately authorize a decision to deny them communion, have opined on the subject.
Biden’s Washington, D.C., Archbishop Cardinal Wilton Gregory, told reporters last week that Biden “is not demonstrating Catholic teaching.”
Pelosi’s San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote in the Washington Post that “[y]ou cannot be a good Catholic and support expanding a government-approved right to kill innocent human beings.”
He also suggested that ex-communication could be on the table for Pelosi and other abortion-supporting "Catholics."
