| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"JCarew" |
| Date: |
20 Oct 2004 01:23:57 PM |
| Object: |
Re: Kerry ,Excommunication, Scam Exposed |
JMJ
quote
Vatican Says Anti-Kerry Lawyer Hoodwinked Them
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A conservative U.S. lawyer's attempt to
enlist the Vatican in his drive to declare Senator John Kerry a
heretic over his abortion views backfired Wednesday when the Holy
See said it had been hoodwinked.
Marc Balestrieri, head of a conservative Catholic group called
De Fide, has been pushing for the Church to rule that the Democratic
presidential candidate has inflicted excommunication on himself
because he supports a woman's right to an abortion.
Balestrieri caused a stir in the United States this week when he
asserted in interviews and on his Web site that he had won an
unofficial and indirect green light from the Vatican. But Wednesday,
the Vatican denied his assertions, which received widespread
coverage in major U.S. media.
The controversy emerges less than two weeks before an election
in which abortion has become a hot-button issue. Kerry, a Roman
Catholic, says he is "pro-choice but not pro-abortion" and that he
cannot impose his views on those who do not share his faith.
Bush, a Methodist, is against abortion except in certain
circumstances.
Balestrieri told Reuters he wanted to point out "the growing
misunderstanding by Catholics that they can publicly call
themselves Catholics and support the right to choose abortion.
"He said U.S. Catholic leaders were afraid of strictly applying
doctrine for "fear of reprisals from politicians, loss of
donations from pro-choice Catholics and lack of backbone."
Father Augustine Di Noia, third-ranking official in the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's
doctrinal office, told Reuters that Balestrieri had
hoodwinked the Church by misrepresenting himself.
AUTOMATIC EXCOMMUNICATION?
Balestrieri submitted a query to the Congregation several months
ago, asking if someone who publicly supported abortion rights
would be guilty of heresy and incur what the Church calls
"automatic excommunication." Di Noia, the Congregation's
undersecretary, referred the reques to Father Basil Cole, a canon
lawyer in Washington. Cole provided a response which said
that if a Catholic "publicly and obstinately" supports the civil
right to abortion despite knowledge of the Church's teaching,
that person commits heresy and "is automatically excommunicated."
Balestrieri asserted that Cole's letter was proof that the Vatican
was on his side. But Di Noia said: "His claim that the private
letter he received from Father Basil Cole is a Vatican response
has no merit whatsoever."
"I thought I was advising a student who was working on a project.
I referred him to a reliable theologian on the matter. I was acting in
my capacity as a theologian trying to be helpful to a young person,"
he told Reuters.
"I had no idea his aim was actually to build a heresy case against
John Kerry or against anyone else. I feel that we have been
instrumentalized," Di Noia told Reuters.
Di Noia told Reuters that Balestrieri did not identify himself as
head of De Fide and did not disclose that he had already filed a
heresy suit against the Massachusetts senator with the Archdiocese
of Boston.
Balestrieri called on U.S. Catholic bishops to petition the
Vatican for an official clarification of the abortion-heresy issue as
specifically applied to Kerry.
unquote
Jim Carew sfo
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