There are Catholics on the Left who are high-fiving over their (mistaken) idea that Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation, EVANGELII GAUDIUM, says Catholics should support Barack Obama’s big government agenda.
I’m wondering how these people reconcile the undeniable FACT that the U.S. Catholic Bishops have instructed us to DEFY Obamacare, because it forces us to pay for abortion.
Today, I got an update in my email from Priests for Life, about their lawsuit.
The Obama Administration is determined to force employers – including non-profit religious organizations like Priests for Life – and insurers to provide coverage for contraceptive “services” that include abortion-causing drugs in all health insurance plans.
This stated goal of the Administration is completely contrary to the goal of the Church and of pro-life organizations like Priests for Life.
In fact, the HHS mandate is nothing less than an act of tyranny because it compels me – as well you and every other American – to violate the demands of conscience.
Pope Francis is no Communist and he certainly didn’t say anything in EVANGELII GAUDIUM to support Obama’s lifelong, shameless promotion of abortion (even after live birth) or his current assault on religious liberty.
In fact, chapter two – the section people are cherry picking to support their Leftist agenda – isn’t about politics or economics. It’s about what the entire document is about … EVANGELIZING. This is the intro to this section:
Chapter Two: Amid the Crisis of Communal Commitment
50. Before taking up some basic questions related to the work of evangelization, it may be helpful to mention briefly the context in which we all have to live and work. Today, we frequently hear of a “diagnostic overload” which is not always accompanied by improved and actually applicable methods of treatment. Nor would we be well served by a purely sociological analysis which would aim to embrace all of reality by employing an allegedly neutral and clinical method. What I would like to propose is something much more in the line of an evangelical discernment. It is the approach of a missionary disciple.
“Before taking up some basic questions related to the work of evangelization, it may be helpful to mention briefly the context in which we all have to live and work.”
The point of the document is how to spread the Gospel. The stuff Leftists quote are from this section in which Pope Francis sketches out some of the real situations in which Catholics around the globe live and work.
“Nor would we be well served by a purely sociological analysis”
Hello, Leftists! He is NOT giving an Atta Boy to Obama Democrats or proponents of Liberation Theology. He is encouraging Catholic-Christians to PREACH THE GOOD NEWS … which is that JESUS died to pay the price for our sins so we could choose to spend eternity with God.
The next time Lefties claim Pope Francis is on their side, ask them how “abortion on demand is sacred ground” and “everybody has to pay for abortion” jive with THESE bits of EVANGELII GAUDIUM:
61. We also evangelize when we attempt to confront the various challenges which can arise. On occasion these may take the form of veritable attacks on religious freedom.
213. Among the vulnerable for whom the Church wishes to care with particular love and concern are unborn children, the most defenceless and innocent among us. Nowadays efforts are made to deny them their human dignity and to do with them whatever one pleases, taking their lives and passing laws preventing anyone from standing in the way of this. Frequently, as a way of ridiculing the Church’s effort to defend their lives, attempts are made to present her position as ideological, obscurantist and conservative. Yet this defence of unborn life is closely linked to the defence of each and every other human right. It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development. Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other problems.
214. Precisely because this involves the internal consistency of our message about the value of the human person, the Church cannot be expected to change her position on this question. I want to be completely honest in this regard. This is not something subject to alleged reforms or “modernizations”. It is not “progressive” to try to resolve problems by eliminating a human life.
Sources:
2012 Democrat Party Platform on Protecting A Woman’s Right to Choose. The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right. Abortion is an intensely personal decision between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her clergy; there is no place for politicians or government to get in the way. We also recognize that health care and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions. We strongly and unequivocally support a woman’s decision to have a child by providing affordable health care and ensuring the availability of and access to programs that help women during pregnancy and after the birth of a child, including caring adoption programs.
June 13, 2013: A reporter asked Democrat Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi about Democrat support for aborting viable unborn babies: “What is the moral difference between what Dr. Gosnell did to a baby born alive at 23 weeks and aborting her moments before birth?” Pelosi replied, “As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this,” Pelosi said. “This shouldn’t have anything to do with politics.” http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/nancy-pelosi-issue-of-late-term-abortions-is-sacred-ground
June 29, 2013: The Obama administration issued its final word on the ObamaCare regulation that requires all employers to provide free contraceptives, sterilization procedures, and abortion-inducing drugs to employees through healthcare insurance plans (aka, the HHS Mandate). That word is, “Screw you.” Obama Democrats will make NO ACCOMMODATIONS WHATSOEVER for Americans who morally object to sterilizations, contraceptives, and abortifacients. The HHS mandate is the subject of 60 separate lawsuits by more than 200 plaintiffs across the nation, including dioceses of the Catholic Church, who have challenged it based on its denial of religious liberty as provided under the Constitution. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/06/28/Obama-s-Last-Word-HHS-Mandate-Is-Final
polination.blog 
Thank you, Chrissy. I get so very, very vexed with commentors, most especially those on the “Right” who are all in a tizzy over the Pope, assuming that every sentance he utters is directly related to U.S. Economic Policy. So ridiculous. I’m glad are a few of us keeping our heads and saying “Look, at least read what he actually wrote . . !”
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