Vatican blocks Caroline Kennedy appointment as US ambassador

Vatican blocks Caroline Kennedy appointment as US ambassador
The Vatican has blocked the appointment of Caroline Kennedy as US ambassador, according to reports.

Vatican sources told Il Giornale that their support for abortion disqualified Ms Kennedy and other Roman Catholics President Barack Obama had been seeking to appoint.

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Brownback - Turncoat

Spirit & Life®
"The words I spoke to you are spirit and life." (Jn 6:63)
Human Life International e-Newsletter
Volume 04, Number 10 | Friday, March 6, 2009
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www.hli.org

Brownback - Turncoat

I am not a politician, I am a priest. So I would like to give my priestly perspective about the recent endorsement of Senator Sam Brownback for the candidacy of Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services: Senator Brownback's cowardly betrayal of his Catholic faith is even more damaging than his political permission for this renegade to take office.

The situation is atrocious. An extremist abortion hack (called the most pro-abortion governor in the nation by many), who falsely calls herself "Catholic," is given the opportunity to preside over the nation's healthcare system and normalize abortion even further; this radical is then endorsed by a US senator who also calls himself "Catholic" and who, many believe, wants her job back home when she becomes the abortion queen in DC.

With pro-lifers like Senator Sam Brownback, who needs pro-aborts?

Moral theologians can work out what level of cooperation in evil the Senator's endorsement represents - he is, after all, an influential senator whose opposition, if he had given it, may very well have stopped her nomination. Yet, those of us who do not breathe the rarified air of Washington DC and who have dedicated our lives to defending the sanctity of human life understand one thing: any covenant with the abortion industry or its promoters is consent to the killing. As a convert to the Catholic Faith, Senator Brownback seems not to understand the Church's profoundly wounded heart with regard the slaughter of the innocents. The Church tells us never to participate in that slaughter, no matter what the cost; we do not give aid and comfort to the enemies of human life, we do not stand by while the innocent are being dragged off to a violent murder, and under no circumstances do we endorse the political aspirations of their executioners. Politicians who sell the lives of babies for political gains are the worst kind of turncoats.

Yet, this Catholic Senator's decision constitutes, I think, a watershed moment for all of us who want to see an end to the immoral industry of baby-killing in our country. We will never be served by the compromise of our principles in any form. Catholicism is the solution to this culture of death. If only Catholics ourselves would fully live up to our doctrine and put it into practice, there would be no "Tiller the Killer"s in Kansas, no partial birth abortions, no immoral sex education in the schools or Planned Parenthoods dominating our public life. Self-described "Catholics" like Brownback (in politics), Doug Kmiec (in academia), Hannity, Matthews and O'Reilly (in media) and others are not the solution to the problem - they are enablers of the problem. Despite their high-sounding lip service to the culture of life, they are compromisers. They will never end abortion because they don't want to end abortion.

I have often said that false Catholics, whether they be Cardinals, politicians or janitors, are the ones who have the most to account for on the Day of Judgment when they will have to account for ignoring Christ in His "least brethren," the unborn. Whether through advocacy of the evil (like Sebelius) or negligence in stopping it (like Brownback), they have blood on their hands. They've been given everything the Church has to offer: the teaching, the sacraments, the example of the saints and the grace to stand against Satan and all his works and all his empty promises. In other words, they know better, and the Biblical warning applies to them: "To whom much has been given, much will be required." Cowards and turncoats beware.

Sincerely,


Rev. Thomas J. Euteneuer,
President, Human Life International

Pope Meets with Pelosi

I was talking to Mom yesterday about the Pope meeting with Nancy Pelosi. I was a little upset by the meeting because I know all Nancy really wants in meeting the Pope is to get a nice photo of her doing so. I know the Pope has to be pastoral and meet with people with whom he disagrees with, because how can he influence them if he never meets with them sort of thing, but Pelosi? A photo with him would just enable her to continue her anti-life, and anti-Catholic policies. Mom remarked that if the Pope was smart he would meet with her in some closet, away from the media. That way she can get her meeting, but no photo. Well, it looks like Mom is a smart cookie, I saw an article this morning detailing the meeting sounding very close to that.

Pelosi could not immediately be reached after the 15-minute meeting, which was closed to reporters and photographers. The two met in a small room of a Vatican auditorium after the pope's weekly public audience.

And the Vatican released a statement on what the Pope told Nancy which included

The Vatican released remarks by the pope to Pelosi, saying Benedict spoke of the church's teaching "on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death." That is an expression often used by the pope when expressing opposition to abortion.

Benedict said all Catholics—especially legislators, jurists and political leaders—should work to create "a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development."

Well now that she's had time to ram through a massive stimulus bill and meet with Pope Benedict, maybe she will find time to meet with her Bishop, which she seems to have put off for several months.


Since there is no photo of this meeting, I'm just adding this one in because I find it funny. It looks like Monsignor Gaenswein is going to catch it in his hand.

Bishop Hermann: 'I thought you should know’

Bishop Hermann: 'I thought you should know’

By Bishop Robert J. Hermann, Archdiocesan Administrator

January 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - I was very edified this past Saturday to see the Cathedral almost filled for the Pro-Life Mass. Then to see such a large contingent, on a very cold day, make a pilgrimage to the abortion clinic, praying the Rosary for Life, was truly heartwarming.

At the very moment I am writing this, our new president, Barack Obama, is being sworn into office. We congratulate him, and we pray for him, but we cannot condone his pro-death policies, even while we are happy that so many people feel they have new hope. We must do everything we can to oppose his pro-death-to-children efforts.

Joseph Bottum, in an article entitled "Abortion after Obama," writing in the January 2009 edition of First Things, pages 13-15, tells us, "Now the 2008 election has brought us the presidency of Barack Obama, the most consistent supporter of legalized abortion ever nominated by a majority party."

When asked about making decisions as to when a baby gets human rights, President Obama answered that "is above my pay grade." He also stated that he would not want his daughters "punished with a baby."

He has made it known that, upon taking office, he will remove all federal restrictions on funding embryonic stem-cell research. He also intends to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. Seldom has our nation ever been confronted with such an extreme measure. The Freedom of Choice Act will invalidate for the entire country all restrictions on abortion before viability, including parental notification, waiting periods and partial-birth abortion bans. President Obama has no problem supporting legislation that would even kill a child who survived a botched abortion.

If at this stage our anger is directed at President Obama, our anger is misdirected. Obama is not the enemy. He needs and deserves our prayers, not our condemnation.

As Catholics, we are not guiltless. It seems to me that when President Kennedy compromised Catholic teachings and accommodated political pressures in order to be elected to the highest office in the land, he set the tone for many Catholic leaders to follow and to compromise their Catholic principles to get ahead.

In our Supreme Court and in our Congress, we have a plethora of so-called Catholics who are failing to live their Catholic identity. Over 50 percent of our electorate voted for a president who is one of the most pro-culture-of-death candidates from a major party to run for the highest office of the land.

Yes, we can thank one-half of our Catholics for bailing out on their faith!

After almost 50 years of having 50 percent of Catholics abandoning their Catholic identity, we cannot expect to turn this culture around by short-term political efforts.

In order to bring about a transformation from a culture of death to a culture of life, we have to restore our Catholic identity.

This means that all of us, as Catholics, have to undergo a profound transformation. It means that we have to take a good look at every facet of our Catholic life, including the serious study of life issues, the regular and devout use of our Sacramental system, especially the devout and weekly attendance at Mass, the regular reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the devout praying of the daily Rosary, and then the faithful, loving and firm witness to lax Catholics about our Catholic beliefs and practices.

We have to live our lives in such a way that we will be unafraid to witness to what we believe and live.

I may courageously say that I am willing to die to end abortion, but am I equally willing to say that I am ready to let my ego get ruffled daily for the same cause? Yet … that is where I need to arrive if I am to be a credible witness.

What a glorious opportunity we all have to make a difference in the pro-life cause. Until we are willing to be politically incorrect in order to be biblically correct, we will never convince anyone that our religion is worth living.

It does not take 100 percent of our Catholics to transform this country. If 75 percent of our Catholics were steeped in Catholic identity, the abortion issue would be over for our entire country. We have many, many evangelicals on our side in the culture of life. Look at how many more of them would flock to our side if we really lived our Catholic teachings! They, too, are looking for changeless principles lived out in practice.

But there is more! Our laxity in living our Catholic life has blinded us into not seeing the role of Satan in the culture of death. Satan is having a heyday in our midst, because he has managed to remain invisible in the culture of death, and our laxity has granted him that luxury. Since we are not steeped in the Word of God as we should be, we do not recognize his darkness in our society. Our first reading from Hebrews tells us, "The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart."

St. Paul tells us that our warfare is not against flesh and blood but against the power and principles of darkness. He also tells us that we should not let the sun go down upon our anger so as to give Satan a foothold. These readings are wake-up calls for us all. I bring this up deliberately, because I do not want us to fall into Satan's trap of getting us to hate President Obama or any of the pro-choice Catholic legislators in Congress. Being pro-life means that we engage far more in spiritual warfare than in political warfare.

That Satan is very alive in influencing all of us is his best-kept secret. Becoming steeped in the Word of God and the teachings of the Catholic Church exposes his evil machinations.

President Obama, pro-choice legislators and Planned Parenthood are not our enemies. Our enemies are the invisible forces masked behind these people. Most of them do not have a clue that they are being deceived by our common enemy, the devil. They are used by our common enemy, Satan, and his evil forces, to get us to hate so that we, too, will end up in a culture of death. President Obama and all pro-choice and pro-abortion legislators, as well as members supporting Planned Parenthood (and we have in our own state a national legislator who has received over $900,000 from groups that advocate for abortion rights) — these are not our enemies. They are used by the evil one to get us to hate them in our efforts to be pro-life and thereby ditch our pro-life efforts. We cannot fall for that trap!

We owe all of them prayers and fasting for their conversion. At one point, Gov. Reagan was California's very pro-abortion governor. Yet he became a very pro-life president. He repented and regretted the evil he supported.

We must bravely witness against supporting pro-choice and pro-abortion candidates in political elections, but pray daily for their conversion.

Source

Pelosi: Birth Control Will Help Economy

Can we please stop calling her a Catholic politician now?

PELOSI SAYS BIRTH CONTROL WILL HELP ECONOMY
Sun Jan 25 2009 22:13:43 ET

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi boldly defended a move to add birth control funding to the new economic "stimulus" package, claiming "contraception will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government."

Pelosi, the mother of 5 children and 6 grandchildren, who once said, "Nothing in my life will ever, ever compare to being a mom," seemed to imply babies are somehow a burden on the treasury.

The revelation came during an exchange Sunday morning on ABC's THIS WEEK.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?

PELOSI: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So no apologies for that?

PELOSI: No apologies. No. we have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy.

Developing...

Drudgereport

Biden on Abortion

Project Vote Smart

Abortion Issues
(Back to top)

2007 In 2007 NARAL Pro-Choice America gave Senator Biden a grade of 75.

2006 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 100 percent in 2006.

2006 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 100 percent in 2006.

2005-2006 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association 93 percent in 2005-2006.

2005-2006 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 0 percent in 2005-2006.

2005 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 100 percent in 2005.

2004 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 100 percent in 2004.

2003-2004 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Democrats for Life of America 33 percent in 2003-2004.

2003-2004 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 17 percent in 2003-2004.

2003 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 36 percent in 2003.

2001-2002 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 0 percent in 2001-2002.

2001 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 100 percent in 2001.

2001 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 75 percent in 2001.

2000 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 90 percent in 2000.

1999-2002 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association 67 percent in 1999-2002.

1999-2000 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 22 percent in 1999-2000.

1999 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 46 percent in 1999.

1999 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 25 percent in 1999.

1999 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 71 percent in 1999.

1998 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 65 percent in 1998.

1997-1998 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 40 percent in 1997-1998.

1997 Senator Biden supported the interests of the NARAL Pro-Choice America 34 percent in 1997.

1997 Senator Biden supported the interests of the National Right to Life Committee 42 percent in 1997.

1996-2003 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 83 percent in 1996-2003.

1996 On the votes that the NARAL Pro-Choice America considered to be the most important in 1996 , Senator Biden voted their preferred position 43 percent of the time.

1996 On the votes that the National Right to Life Committee considered to be the most important in 1996, Senator Biden voted their preferred position 43 percent of the time.

1995-2004 On the votes that the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association considered to be the most important in 1995-2004, Senator Biden voted their preferred position 82 percent of the time.

1995-1998 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 50 percent in 1995-1998.

1993-1996 Senator Biden supported the interests of the Planned Parenthood 66 percent in 1993-1996.

Way to Go Obama

He's picking pro-choice Catholic Joe Biden as his running mate.

I hope it backfires on him big time. He's been losing more and more of the Catholic vote in the past month or so, I hope this makes him lose more (although I'm not completely convinced it will).

I guess we'll have to see how it plays out. I am surprised it is Biden, he never seemed to me like VP material, but who knows. Now we just have to see who McCain will pick.