Looking Ahead to Pope's Trip to Portugal

John Allen has a good pre-analysis of the Pope's visit to Fatima next week.

Portugal is becoming steadily more secular and recently passed a same-sex marriage bill, subject to a presidential veto, so this visit was always going to address the problems of secularism in Europe. But recent events in the European economy will give it added weight and relevance.

Like John Paul II, Benedict XVI has consistently argued that Europe must rediscover its Christian roots and that the continent cannot be bound by financial ties alone.

The Pope is scheduled to leave for Fatima on Tuesday but the volcanic cloud, currently passing over Portugal, Spain and Italy, may cause problems.

"Couples Who Use Natural Family Planning Almost Never Divorce"

Dr. Janet Smith always has a knack of putting across the Church's teaching on important life and reproductive issues in ways you'll never hear the mainstream media, or even some Church circles.

A professor at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, here's what she says in response to a poor piece by AFP news agency on the Church's teaching on contraception.

Noting that more than one out of three babies in the United States are born to a single mother, one out of four pregnancies are aborted and that more than one out of two marriages end in divorce, she says:

“If people were living by the Church's teaching on sexuality, those things wouldn't be happening, and those things are a path to misery."

“People born out of wedlock have a very hard life, as do their children. People who get divorced have a very hard life as do their children, and their friends and their family,” Smith asserted, adding that on the other hand, “people who don't get divorced and stay married and raise their children, generally have very good lives.”

“Couples who use natural family planning almost never divorce,” she pointed out. “The divorce rate at tops, we think is around 4%.”

In light of these facts,“who looks foolish?” she asked. “The Church for not changing a teaching that almost guarantees happiness or a culture that is pushing an agenda that almost guarantees misery?”

Also, “it is really, patently absurd for women to be putting chemicals in their body to correct a condition that is not a defect.

“Fertility is a perfectly healthy condition,” Smith emphasized.

For more on why contraception is against the natural moral law, this is a helpful article. (Interestingly, many believe the Anglican church began to decline after its decision in the 1930s to allow contraception.)

As always, the Church's teaching offers an unmatched anthropological vision, one of basic reason and common sense.

General Election: Good News for Pro-Lifers, Papal Visit

Last night's General Election results in Britain appear to be good news for pro-lifers and could auger well for Benedict XVI's visit in September.

Several virulent anti-life MPs lost their seats, some to be replaced by Conservative newcomers who have voiced their intention to support pro-life policies.

One particularly welcome result was the defeat of Lib Dem MP Dr Evan Harris in Oxford West and Abingdon, nicknamed "Doctor Death" for his militant secularism and anti-life views.

However, a Lib-Con government may be a problem.

Lord Alton, Britain's Pro-Life Record, and the General Election

Lord Alton of Liverpool, the great pro-life champion in the British parliament, is currently visiting Rome.

Last Friday night he gave a very interesting address to the Venerable English College.

As expected, he made some powerful points - here are just a few which stuck in my mind:

1) The UK government continues to use taxpayer's money to fund abortions worldwide, including giving millions of pounds to the UNFPA and others - not only to pay for abortions in developed countries, but also to uphold China's one-child policy. (He showed case studies of Chinese parents forced to have their children aborted using the pressure of torture and other means).

2) 600 abortions take place everyday in the UK, 40 million unborn babies are killed worldwide every year.

3) In the UK, unborn babies with disabilities can be aborted right up to birth.

4) Gordon Brown used a three line whip (in other words, all Labour MPs were forced to vote) to pass the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill which included allowing scientists to conduct research on animal-hybrid embryos - despite notable scientists saying they didn't know what the benefits of such experiments would be. (Interestingly even Lord Steele, who was instrumental in legalizing abortion in the UK in the 1960s, opposed the Bill, and has opposed legalized euthanasia). Britain is the only country in the world to have legislated in favour of such research.

5) Around 3000 euthanasia deaths take place every year in Holland, 1000 of which are involuntary - i.e. occur without the consent of the patient. He said that showed how, once legalized, euthanasia can easily be used to kill elderly patients against their will.

6) Something the pagans noticed which was different about the first Christians was that "they didn't kill their offspring."

What I particularly like about Lord Alton is that he is pro-life not just on the three key issues of abortion, embryology and euthanasia, but also passionately speaks out on other social justice issues, whether they be concern for the poorest of the poor in Calcutta or defenceless civilians caught up in the conflict in Darfur. Quoting the late Archbishop Worlock, he stressed that as Christians we should be concerned about protecting life "From the Womb to the Tomb".

I asked him afterwards who he thought was the most pro-life candidate in the general election. He said that the position of Cameron, Clegg and Brown is not as important as that of the constituency candidate, so when voting it's better to find out each prospective MP's position (he didn't like the TV debates for this reason - the electorate aren't voting for a president but for their local MP).

But when pressed, he said that although none of the party leaders score well on pro-life issues, Cameron is best because he insists each issue is a matter of individual conscience while the others take a more rigid party line.

Goebbels, the Church and Pedophilia

Likening Dawkins and others to the Nazis is a bit of a cheap shot but there is a precedent in history.

According to Massimo Introvigne of Corriere della Sera, the Nazis did in fact try to discredit the Catholic Church by involving it in a scandal of pedophile priests. In 1937, he writes, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels organized such a campaign after Pope Pius XI severely criticised the Nazi regime.

The parallels are disturbing. Just as cases of pedophilia are suddenly coming to light after decades since they occurred, so Goebbels instructed the Gestapo "to “reopen” the cases from 1936 and also older cases, constantly recalling them to public opinion," according to Introvigne.

Goebbels also ordered the Gestapo to find witnesses willing to accuse a certain number of priests, threatening them with immediate arrest if they didn’t collaborate, even if they were children.

It's an interesting article worth reading, and you won't of course see it reported in many other places.

Dawkins Video Parody

This has already done the rounds, but if you haven't seen it yet, it's a funny parody of the ridiculous Dawkins-Hitchens stunt to arrest the Pope in Britain.

I hear the film company is trying to take these down so apologies if the link doesn't work.

Beware the LibDems

Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham is warning that a victory by the Liberal Democrats in the May 6 general election could threaten the existence of Catholic schools. The party has pledged to make it illegal for religious schools to select students on the basis of their faith.

“Catholics should give it very serious consideration before they vote Liberal Democrat,” said Bishop McMahon. “Our position is that every person should have the right to bring up their children according to their consciences.”

That's not all. A LibDem win would threaten religious freedom and the right to life in general. The most militant secularists in the last parliament weren't Labour MPs but LibDem ones.

Yet Britain has, until recently, historically been an example to the world when it comes to religious freedom. Having just got back from Malta, I was interested to learn that in contrast to their other rulers, the British not only allowed Catholicism to continue but actually helped it prosper. The same approach to religion could be seen in just about every other colony.