1. The Abortion Disinformation Campaign, By The Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2022, Pg. A16, Editorial
First, they ban abortion. Next will be a contraception ban. Then a ban on same-sex and even interracial marriage. Soon we will all be living in “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
That’s the parade of horribles that Democrats and the media are trying to sell Americans after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would repeal a constitutional right to abortion.
If Roe v. Wade falls, it “would mean that every other decision related to the notion of privacy is thrown into question,” President Biden warned Tuesday. “Does this mean that in Florida they can decide they’re going to pass a law saying that same-sex marriage is not permissible?” If we can borrow a word he likes, the President is peddling disinformation.
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The correct answer is none of the above, as Justice Samuel Alito’s draft takes pains to emphasize. The leaked opinion is explicit about distinguishing Roe and its 1992 legal revision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, from cases on unrelated social topics.
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Democrats don’t want Americans to know all this because their political goal is to frighten them into believing that Justice Alito is some black-robed Pharisee bent on invading their bedrooms. It’s simply not true. Repealing Roe would merely return abortion policy to the states and democratic debate. That’s all.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-abortion-disinformation-campaign-roe-v-wade-samuel-alito-griswold-supreme-court-11651703428
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2. Vatican exonerates Cardinal Woelki in financial investigation, By Catholic News Service, May 5, 2022
The Vatican believes Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki and his vicar general, Msgr. Markus Hofmann, did not violate canon law in their funding of investigations and hiring of communications consultants, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA.
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, wrote Woelki that after an “in-depth study,” the Vatican determined the financial institutions of the archdiocese did not need to be involved in the decision to spend 2.8 million euros from an episcopal fund. Journalists were given access to the letter May 3.
The decision comes as a relief to the crisis-hit leadership of the archdiocese, KNA reported.
After accusations of the mishandling of priests accused of sex abuse, Woelki took a sabbatical from October 2021 to March 2022. His interim replacement, Bishop Rolf Steinhäuser, asked two church law experts to review the awarding of contracts to lawyers and communications consultants involved in producing reports on the abuse. There was a suspicion that the property council and the cathedral chapter should have been involved in the decision under canon law.
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-europe/2022/05/vatican-exonerates-cardinal-woelki-in-financial-investigation
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3. What Alito Got Right, The Court’s job is not to determine which rights we should possess but rather which rights we do possess., By David French, The Atlantic, May 4, 2022, 2:24 PM, Opinion
We do not know if Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked draft majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health represents the current consensus of a majority of the Supreme Court.
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Even so, Alito’s draft is consequential. It not only represents a potential preview of one of the most significant Court decisions in a generation, but also articulates a compelling understanding of the nature of liberty and the role of the judiciary in American constitutional law.
First, it’s important to understand the question before the Supreme Court. It is not “Should American women possess a right to abortion?” but “Does the American Constitution protect abortion rights?” The distinction is of paramount importance. The Court’s job is not to determine which rights we should possess but rather the rights we do possess.
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If Alito’s draft opinion answers whether the Constitution does protect abortion, it does not answer whether states should protect abortion. Voices on the right argue that the Constitution should be read to prohibit abortion entirely—and at least one amicus brief made that very argument—but Alito does not go that far. His opinion would leave the ultimate legality of abortion to the democratic process, to state legislatures and to Congress.
And that brings us to the final key element of Alito’s opinion. He calls abortion “a profound moral question,” but it’s one that he does not settle. He does not believe that it is the role of the judiciary to settle such questions.
Here is where the differences between conservative and progressive jurists are perhaps starkest. Going back to Justice Ginsburg’s 1992 remarks, she argued (quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes) that “judges do and must legislate.” Even though Justice Ginsburg argued for a change slower and more interstitial than Roe, conservative justices such as Alito would still strenuously disagree.
Instead, enacting legal change is precisely the role of the people’s elected representatives. Legislation is for the legislature, and if the people of the United States want to create a right to abortion, they have that power. They had that power before Roe, and if Alito’s opinion holds, they will still have that power.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/alito-roe-opinion-abortion-states-rights-constitution/629755/
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4. Don’t be ‘Putin’s altar boy,’ Pope warns Russian Orthodox leader, By Timothy Bella and Sammy Westfall, The Washington Post, May 4, 2022, 2:40 PM
Pope Francis warned the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church not to be “Putin’s altar boy” and justify the Russian president’s invasion of Ukraine.
In a Tuesday interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Francis said he spoke with Patriarch Kirill, a key supporter of Vladimir Putin and his war, for 40 minutes over Zoom. During the March 16 conversation, Francis said, Kirill was listing off all the justifications for the war from a sheet of paper he was holding.
“I listened and then told him: I don’t understand anything about this,” Francis said. “Brother, we are not state clerics, we cannot use the language of politics but that of Jesus. We are pastors of the same holy people of God. Because of this, we must seek avenues of peace, to put an end to the firing of weapons.”
Then, Francis, who has repeatedly called for an end to the war, went one step further and challenged Kirill not to follow along with the actions of the Russian president.
“The patriarch cannot transform himself into Putin’s altar boy,” the pope said.
The Russian Orthodox Church, in a statement released Wednesday, responded, “It’s regrettable that a month and a half after the conversation with Patriarch Kirill, Pope Francis chose the wrong tone to convey the content of this conversation.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/04/patriarch-kirill-pope-francis-russian-orthodox-church-ukraine/
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5. Report: EU commission proposes sanctions against Patriarch Kirill, By Catholic News Agency, May 4, 2022, 3:22 AM
The European Commission has reportedly proposed sanctions against the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is among 58 figures earmarked for sanctions related to the Russia-Ukraine war, Agence France-Presse reported on May 4.
The news agency said it had seen a document describing the patriarch as “a long-time ally of President Vladimir Putin, who has become one of the main supporters of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine.”
The European Commission is the executive branch of the European Union, a political and economic union of 27 member states.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251135/report-eu-commission-proposes-sanctions-against-patriarch-kirill
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6. US bishops urge prayer, fasting after leak of abortion draft ruling, By Catholic News Agency, May 4, 2022, 3:12 PM
The chair of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee on Wednesday urged continued and intensified prayer and fasting that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade, following the leak of a draft opinion in a case concerning a state’s abortion law.
“The leak related to the U.S. Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization reminds us of the urgent need for prayer and action at this pivotal moment in our country,” Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore said May 4.
“As Catholics, we care about every unborn child and every mother. Our Church has consistently witnessed in word and deed that life begins at the moment of conception. As the bishops shared in our statement Standing with Moms in Need: we pledge ‘to redouble our efforts to accompany women and couples who are facing unexpected or difficult pregnancies, and during the early years of parenthood, offering them loving and compassionate care through initiatives such as Walking with Moms in Need and countless others.’”
He added that “we urge everyone to intensify their prayer and fasting that the final decision of the Court will bring about the reversal of Roe and Casey.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/251143/us-bishops-urge-prayer-fasting-for-overturning-of-roe-v-wade-after-leak-of-abortion-draft-ruling
___________________________________________________________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. |
