1. Abortion rights advocates win major victories in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, The results sent a stark signal for 2024 about enduring demands across the political spectrum to protect access to abortion, even in conservative states, By Hannah Knowles and Caroline Kitchener, The Washington Post, November 8, 2023, 12:29 AM
Abortion rights advocates won major victories Tuesday as voters in conservative-leaning Ohio decisively passed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing access to abortion, while those in ruby-red Kentucky reelected a Democratic governor who aggressively attacked his opponent for supporting the state’s near-total ban on the procedure.
In Virginia, a battleground state where Republicans pushed a proposal to outlaw most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, Democrats were projected to take control of the state legislature after campaigning heavily on preserving access.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/07/abortion-ohio-kentucky-virginia-elecitons/
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2. Senate Republicans scramble for solution to Tuberville military blockade ahead of key vote, By Ramsey Touchberry, The Washington Times, November 8, 2023
Republican senators emerged from a closed-door meeting Tuesday night still searching for an answer to end Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s hold over hundreds of military promotions in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy.
The Alabama Republican stood firm with his nearly 10-month-long blockade of military nominees that has climbed to roughly 450 individuals, despite a sense of urgency as Democrats craft a potential legislative workaround that would force some GOP senators into a difficult vote.
The Pentagon policy funds travel and expenses for service members who go to other states for abortions, which Mr. Tuberville and other opponents say amounts to taxpayer-funded abortions and is illegal. The Department of Defense says it’s to ensure the battle readiness of military members.
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Mr. Tuberville floated four potential options to lift his holds, according to a memo he distributed to Republicans. However, Senate Democrats or the Biden administration have so far been unwilling to agree to any of them.
The four solutions included the Pentagon rescinding its policy; repealing it under the annual National Defense Authorization Act; private organizations funding the abortion expenses; and the chamber holding individual floor votes on nominees.
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https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/nov/7/senate-republicans-scramble-solution-tommy-tubervi/
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3. Biden administration guidance on abortion to save mother’s life argued at appeals court, By Kevin McGill, Associated Press, November 7, 2023, 7:01 PM
The Biden administration asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to uphold health care guidance issued in 2022 that says hospitals must provide abortions for women whose lives are at risk due to pregnancy.
A federal judge blocked enforcement of the guidance last year after the state of Texas and abortion opponents sued. Opponents of the guidance say Texas law already allows abortions to save the life of the mother, but that the federal guidance went too far, calling for abortions when an emergency condition is not present and eliminating obligations to treat the unborn child.
McKaye Neumeister, an attorney with the Department of Justice arguing for the administration, said the district court judge who blocked enforcement wrongly ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services issued the guidance without first subjecting it to a required public comment period. Neumeister said the guidance wasn’t new. It is, she said, a restatement of existing policy.
Judge Leslie Southwick appeared skeptical, noting that the guidance was issued shortly after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that overturned abortion rights. “It seems to me that is a new statement because you have a new landscape,” Southwick told Neumeister.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2023/11/07/abortion-life-of-mother-dobbs-texas-appeal/5e1038f8-7db6-11ee-b5cc-66c30a3bbb91_story.html
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4. California unveils Native American monument at Capitol, replacing missionary statue toppled in 2020, By Sophie Austin, Associated Press, November 7, 2023, 7:16 PM
An eight-foot-tall bronze statue of a late Native American leader known for preserving cultural dances now stands surrounded by trees in a historic park outside of California’s state Capitol building, replacing a statue of a Spanish missionary that protesters toppled it in 2020.
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The new statue comes after racial justice protesters in 2020 tore down a decades-old statue of Junípero Serra, an 18th century Catholic priest and missionary who has been criticized for destroying Native American tribes and cultures.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2023/11/07/california-native-american-monument-statue-capitol/0c923542-7dcc-11ee-b5cc-66c30a3bbb91_story.html
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5. Study: Liberal US priests facing ‘progressive’ extinction, By Luke Coppen, The Pillar, November 7, 2023, 2:59 PM
The share of new U.S. Catholic priests identifying as theologically “progressive” has fallen so low that the phenomenon has “all but vanished,” according to a report published Tuesday.
The 18-page report, issued Nov. 7 by The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., said that when priests were asked to describe their theological outlook on a spectrum from “very conservative/orthodox” to “very progressive,” none of those ordained after 2020 described themselves as “very progressive.”
The report included a graph showing that the proportion of priests who identified as “somewhat progressive” or “very progressive” fell from almost 70% among those ordained in 1965-1969 to less than 5% among those ordained in 2020 or later.
Researchers said there was a similar drift away from political liberalism and toward “moderate” and “conservative” positions.
“Simply put, the portion of new priests who see themselves as politically ‘liberal’ or theologically ‘progressive’ has been steadily declining since the Second Vatican Council and has now all but vanished,” the report said.
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The report also highlighted a contrast between the responses regarding political and theological outlooks. While 52% of priests surveyed described themselves as politically “conservative” or “very conservative,” 44% said they were “moderate.”
But the authors said that “the ‘moderate’ middle” had collapsed when it came to theological views.
“A full 85% of the youngest cohort describes itself as ‘conservative/orthodox’ or ‘very conservative/orthodox’ theologically, with only 14% (the smallest percentage of any cohort) describing themselves as ‘middle-of-the-road,’” they said.
“Theologically ‘progressive’ and ‘very progressive’ priests once made up 68% of new ordinands. Today, that number has dwindled almost to zero.”
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https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/study-liberal-us-priests-facing-progressive
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6. Ohio prelate says abortion rights amendment shows ‘desperate need for conversion’, By Crux, November 8, 2023
After Ohio voters approved an amendment to the state constitution Tuesday night enshrining abortion rights, the Archbishop of Cincinnati said the result illustrates “a desperate need for conversion of hearts and minds to a culture of life in our country.”
Archbishop Dennis Schnurr released a video statement shortly after it became clear that Issue 1, a ballot measure that creates a state constitutional right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including “decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and continuing pregnancy.”
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“The people of Ohio missed this important opportunity to demonstrate that the health and safety of women, the fundamental rights of parents, and the lives of preborn children deserve protection,” he said.
“Despite this outcome, we are grateful for all of you who prayed, educated yourselves and others, and voted NO on this horrific amendment,” Schnurr said.
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https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-americas/2023/11/ohio-prelate-says-abortion-rights-amendment-shows-desperate-need-for-conversion
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7. Israel urges Pope to be ‘loud’ on hostages, criticizes engagement with Iran, By Elise Ann Allen, Crux, November 8, 2023
A representative of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Monday urged Pope Francis and all political and religious leaders to continue building international pressure for the release of hostages abducted by Hamas.
Speaking during a Nov. 5 video conference on the war in Gaza, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lior Hayat said they are aware of Pope Francis’s repeated interventions on the war in Gaza and voiced his belief that “the pope and the Vatican hold an important moral stand in this case.”
“We expect him to be as loud as possible to talk about the release of hostages. This is a humanitarian catastrophe, a crisis. We call on every world leader and every religious leader to talk about it, to pressure everyone about it,” Hayat said.
He noted that Pope Francis and other Vatican officials have had phone calls with several international leaders, including United States President Joe Biden, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Referring to the pope and the Vatican’s engagement with Iran as “unfortunate,” Hayat said, “I don’t see the point of talking to the terrorist regime in Iran. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
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https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-middle-east/2023/11/israel-urges-pope-to-be-loud-on-hostages-criticizes-engagement-with-iran
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8. U.S. bishops back 15-week abortion ban as ‘positive step’ forward, By Tyler Arnold, Catholic News Agency, November 7, 2023, 2:05 PM
The United States Catholic bishops have endorsed a Senate plan to prohibit abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy at the federal level, calling it a “positive step toward protecting the right to life of preborn children.”
The legislation, called the “Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act,” would set a federal minimum protection for unborn children at the 15th week of pregnancy. The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, would still allow states to restrict abortion earlier in pregnancy, but no later than 15 weeks.
“Not only does abortion end the life of the preborn child, but it is frequently harmful to the mother, emotionally and physically,” Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge, the chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said in a letter to Graham.
“Late-term abortions, such as those performed when the preborn child is 15 weeks or older, pose significant physical, and potentially fatal, risks to the mother,” Burbidge added.
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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255933/us-bishops-back-15-week-abortion-ban-as-positive-step-forward
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9. Vatican hospital offers to treat critically ill baby denied life support in Britain, By Courtney Mares, Catholic News Agency, November 7, 2023, 10:30 AM
The Vatican’s pediatric hospital has offered to treat 8-month-old baby Indi Gregory after a British court ruled that she be removed from life support against her parents’ wishes.
Gregory, who was born in February, suffers from a rare degenerative mitochondrial disease and has been receiving life-sustaining treatment on a ventilator at the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, England.
After England’s high court ruled that it was in the child’s “best interests” to be taken off life support, Gregory’s parents appealed to take her to Rome for treatment, an appeal that was denied by a British judge over the weekend.
The Italian government decided in an emergency meeting on Monday to grant the critically ill child Italian citizenship and to cover the cost of her medical treatment at the Vatican’s Bambino Gesù hospital.
“They say there isn’t much hope for little Indi, but until the very end, I’ll do what I can to defend her life,” Italian President Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media on Nov. 6. “And to defend the right of her mamma and papa to do all that they can for her.”
The Bambino Gesù hospital has previously offered medical treatment to other critically ill children, including Alfie Evans in 2018 and Charlie Gard in 2017, both of whom were ultimately denied the chance to travel to Italy by U.K. courts and died days after being removed from life support.
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In response to the Italian government’s decision, Dean Gregory, Indi’s father, said: “My heart fills up with joy that the Italians have given Claire and I hope and faith back in humanity. The Italians have shown us care and loving support and I wish the U.K. authorities were the same.”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255928/vatican-hospital-offers-to-treat-critically-ill-baby-denied-life-support-in-britain
__________________________________________________________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. |
