1. Abortion grows as priority issue for Democrats: AP-NORC poll, By Hannah Fingerhut, Associated Press, January 13, 2022
With Roe v. Wade facing its strongest threat in decades, a new poll finds Democrats increasingly view protecting abortion rights as a high priority for the government.
Thirteen percent of Democrats mentioned abortion or reproductive rights as one of the issues they want the federal government to address in 2022, according to a December poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s up from less than 1% of Democrats who named it as a priority for 2021 and 3% who listed it in 2020.
Some other issues like the economy, COVID-19, health care and gun control ranked as higher priorities for Democrats in the poll, which allowed respondents to name up to five top issues. But the exponential rise in the percentage citing reproductive rights as a key concern suggests the issue is resonating with Democrats as the Supreme Court considers cases that could lead to dramatic restrictions on abortion access.
https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-reproductive-rights-bd86cf1c8ddbfd09c5e221c7a9d41e01
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2. Pope Francis: Synodality is not a ‘search for majority consensus’, By Catholic News Agency, January 13, 2022, 6:30 AM
Pope Francis said on Thursday that synodality is not a “search for majority consensus,” but rather a “style” guided by the Holy Spirit.
The pope made the remark in an address to a delegation of French Catholic Action groups at the Vatican on Jan. 13.
“The Church as a whole is also engaged in a synodal process, and I count on your contribution,” he said.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/250094/pope-francis-synodality-is-not-a-search-for-majority-consensus
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3. Republican leaders in South Dakota, Florida push abortion restrictions ahead of Supreme Court ruling, By Paulina Villegas, The Washington Post, January 12, 2022, 6:28 PM
Republican lawmakers in Florida and South Dakota are moving forward with efforts to restrict abortions, announcing new proposals that would drastically limit options on how and when a pregnancy can be terminated.
During her State of the State address Tuesday, South Dakota Gov. Kristi L. Noem announced she will seek to ban all abortions starting at about six weeks of pregnancy, falling in line with Texas’s highly restrictive antiabortion law introduced last summer.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/12/south-dakota-florida-abortion-restrictions/
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4. At March for Life, which way will the movement move?, By Ed. Condon and JD Flynn, The Pillar, January 12, 2022
Attendees at the March for Life will hear from a slate of speakers decidedly less political than in recent years. And the speakers list might point to a pro-life movement gearing up for the new reality it will face if a Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health sends abortion regulation back to the states.
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It’s possible that 2022 will mark the beginning of a new approach to messaging and strategy at the March for Life — aiming to forge unity and focus on culture, while state-level groups focus on the politics. But it may also be that the messaging will stay the same, that the March for Life will focus on the midterms, and that pro-lifers will continue to be perceived mostly in terms of their partisan alignment.
Next week’s March for Life will be a good indication of which way the movement, or at least the March, intends to move.
https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/at-march-for-life-which-way-will
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5. Cardinal Parolin Appears to Deny Conscience Right Exemption from Vatican’s Pfizer Vaccine, Responding to a query about his Dec. 23 ruling mandating vaccination for all Vatican employees and visitors who haven’t recently recovered from COVID-19, the Vatican secretary of state indicated religious exemptions are not ‘justified’ with respect to mRNA vaccines., By Edward Pentin, National Catholic Register, January 11, 2022
Cardinal Pietro Parolin has said Vatican employees seeking to be exempt from the Vatican’s new vaccine mandate because they oppose the vaccine’s link to abortion “seems not to be justified” as it was only tested rather than produced using the cell lines of aborted fetuses.
On Dec. 23, Cardinal Parolin, who is the most senior Vatican official after Pope Francis, ruled that entry to the Vatican now was only to be permitted to those who were vaccinated or had recently recovered from COVID-19.
https://www.ncregister.com/blog/cardinal-parolin-pfizer-vaccine
___________________________________________________________TCA Media Monitoring provides a snapshot from national newspapers and major Catholic press outlets of coverage regarding significant Catholic Church news and current issues with which the Catholic Church is traditionally or prominently engaged. The opinions and views expressed in the articles do not necessarily reflect the views of The Catholic Association. |
