1. Oklahoma court OK’s abortion to preserve mother’s life, By Ken Miller, Associated Press, March 22, 2023
A divided Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a portion of the state’s near total ban on abortion, ruling women have a right to abortion when pregnancy risks their health, not just in a medical emergency.
It was a narrow win for abortion rights advocates since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the landmark Roe v. Wade last year. Since then, conservative states including Oklahoma have enforced restrictions on abortion.
Oklahoma’s top court ruled that a woman has the right under the state Constitution to receive an abortion to preserve her life if her doctor determines that continuing the pregnancy would endanger it due to a condition she has or is likely to develop during the pregnancy. Previously, the right to an abortion could only take place in the case of medical emergency.
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https://apnews.com/article/abortion-oklahoma-ban-overturns-supreme-court-7fd43143fa0580460e09a9796ec30a82
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2. The pope has ignored abuses in the Americas, By Eric Farnsworth, The Washington Post, March 21, 2023, 2:30 PM, Letter to the Editor
The March 13 news article “Francis’s first 10 years as pope bring about modest change” focused on hot-button issues, including sexuality and the role of women in the church, while glossing over the pope’s distressingly laissez-faire approach to international human rights and religious liberty, particularly in the region where he was born.
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Unwillingness to call out ongoing abuses of certain odious regimes is a blind spot that has sapped the strength and clouded the hope of those in the region and elsewhere who had counted on the first Latin American pope to be a voice for the voiceless, including those who happen to live under the oppression of the authoritarian political left. After the first 10 years of his papacy, a course correction is warranted.
The writer is vice president of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/21/pope-avoidance-abuses-americas/
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3. Disney doc features Pope Francis’ talk with Gen Z on LGBTQ issues, abortion, and more, By Peter Pinedo, Catholic News Agency, March 21, 2023, 1:30 PM
Disney will release a new documentary April 5 titled “The Pope Answers,” airing an extended conversation between Pope Francis and 10 members of Generation Z, discussing the Church’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues, abortion, clergy abuse, feminism, and more.
Shot in Rome and directed by left-leaning Spanish filmmakers Jordi Évole and Marius Sanchez, the documentary is entirely in Spanish and will be released exclusively on Hulu in the U.S.
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Évole is also known for hosting, directing, and producing the Spanish news show “Salvados” (“Saved,” 2008-2019), which sparked controversy for its criticism and satiric humor directed at the Catholic Church. In one episode, Évole visited Opus Dei’s Torreciudad Shrine and was filmed serving as an altar boy at Mass.
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Among the questions fielded by the pope:
“Do you know what a nonbinary person is?”
“If I weren’t a feminist, would being a Christian be better?”
“What do we do with these women [who have had abortions], in the Church, as an institution?”
At the end of the conversation, Francis says: “I’ve learned a lot from you, it’s done me a lot of good and I thank you for what you’ve done.”
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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253905/disney-doc-features-pope-francis-talk-with-gen-z-on-lgbtq-issues-abortion
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4. Peña Parra and the rule of law: Has anything changed in the Vatican?, Will Archbishop Peña Parra face a formal complaint in the Vatican?, By Ed. Condon, The Pillar, March 21, 2023, 6:27 PM
One of the highest-ranking officials in the Holy See — the effective papal chief of staff no less — told a Vatican courtroom Friday that he had asked for extra-legal surveillance of the director general of the IOR, the Vatican’s canonically-established banking operation.
It was a striking admission by Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the sostituto at the Secretariat of State.
More striking was the archbishop’s instance that he would “do it again” if he thought it necessary.
Hearing Peña Parra speak on March 17, some might be left to assume that Vatican City is structured as a kind of casual surveillance state, or that if the archbishop’s actions seemed jarring, they are really only the ordinary idiosyncrasies of religious monarchy in a microstate.
But as a simple legal matter, electronic surveillance of the kind Peña Parra ordered is tightly controlled, inside and outside the Vatican’s borders, and requires a signed judicial warrant.
In fact, amid the investigation which led to the Vatican’s current criminal trial, Pope Francis had to personally and physically sign off on the use of similar measures aimed at gathering evidence on officials in Peña Parra’s own Vatican department.
In that light, both the archbishop’s actions and attitude raise serious questions about the rule of law in the Vatican, and what — if anything — has changed in the way the Secretariat of State operates in the wake of recent scandals.
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https://www.pillarcatholic.com/pena-parra-and-the-rule-of-law-has-anything-changed-in-the-vatican/
__________________________________________________________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. |
