Francis defined bad compassion as the law not to let the child grow in the mother's womb or the law of euthanasia in disease and old age."

Clarifying, he added "I am not saying it is a faith thing, but it is a human thing."

Francis remained adamant that life should not be toyed with "either at its inception or its conclusion."

The Pope's remarks came as he was en route from Marseille to Rome, following a two-day visit to the southern French city.

France on verge of legalising assisted suicide

Francis' comments were made against a background that France is on the cusp of potentially legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia through a contentious legislative proposal.

The parliamentary vote on the matter was been deferred to September 26-28, coincidentally following the Pope's visit to the country.

While Francis did not discuss euthanasia directly with French President Emmanuel Macron during their recent meeting, he emphasised that he had made his stance "unambiguously clear" during Macron's visit to the Vatican last year.

Belgian model

Macron, who had pledged to reform end-of-life care as part of his election campaign, expressed his inclination towards the Belgian model of euthanasia in April 2022.

The Belgian model of 'integral' end-of-life care consists of universal access to palliative care and legally regulated euthanasia.

It was legalised in Belgium in 2002, and permits euthanasia for adults and minors in exceptional cases.

In the ensuing years, euthanasia choice in Belgium has become more liberal.

Earlier this year, a 56-year-old Belgian mother who murdered her five children was euthanised at her own request.

In 2020, the Vatican stripped 15 of the Belgian Brothers of Charity psychiatric institutions of their Catholic status because euthanasia was permitted on their premises.

Advances in pain manaagement

During the course of the plane interview, Pope Francis highlighted the advancements in medical science that allow for effective pain management, reiterating his belief that life is sacrosanct and should not be trifled with.

On May 13, during the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, he lamented the legalisation of euthanasia in Portugal, describing it as "a law that sanctions killing."

Pope Francis has consistently advocated for palliative care as a humane approach to treating those with severe illnesses, stating that while it is essential to accompany people towards the end of their lives, it is not ethical to hasten their death or assist in their suicide.

He has been equally forthright on the topic of abortion, likening it back in 2018 to contracting a "hitman" to dispose of an inconvenient individual.

Sources

• CNA

Discussing a new Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks, Biden recently said he did not agree that life begins at conception.

"I respect those who believe life begins in the moment of conception — I respect that... (I) don't agree, but I respect that," Biden said.

Biden's new comments on September 3 represent a departure from his previous statements on the matter and follow those made by Jen Psaki, Biden's White House press secretary on September 2.

The New York Post reports Psaki snapped at a EWTN male reporter who asked: "Why does the president support abortion when his own Catholic faith teaches abortion is morally wrong?"

The press secretary then said Biden believes "it's a woman's right, it's a woman's body and it's her choice".

Reporter Owen Jensen followed up: "Who does he believe, then, should look out for the unborn child?"

"He believes that it's up to a woman to make those decisions, and up to a woman to make those decisions with her doctor," Psaki shot back.

"I know you've never faced those choices nor have you ever been pregnant, but for women out there who have faced those choices, this is an incredibly difficult thing. The president believes that right should be respected."

As a presidential candidate, Biden said he was "prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception," but added that to impose that belief upon others through the application of the law would be "inappropriate in a pluralistic society."

"The Catholic Church teaches and has taught that life, human life, begins at conception," Gregory said, according to the Washington Times.

"So the president is not demonstrating Catholic teaching."

"Our Church has not changed its position on the morality of abortion. And I don't see how we could, because we believe that every human life is sacred," he later added.

While stating that the church teaches human life begins at conception, Gregory noted that he served as an auxiliary bishop with the late Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who emphasised the "consistent ethic of life, which says that life issues are linked."

Gregory then also criticized the death penalty, saying: "We've discovered over time, it's not always equally applied.

"The poor, people of colour, immigrants are more susceptible to having death penalty sentences handed down than the wealthy affluent who can afford the best legal defence available."

In June, US Catholic bishops voted 168-55 for the drafting of a "teaching document" that many of them hope will rebuke Catholic politicians, including Biden, for receiving Communion despite their support for abortion rights.

Gregory did not hint at any ecclesiastical consequences for Biden on Wednesday.

Previously Gregory said he planned to approach the President on areas of agreement and disagreement in a respectful way.

"He's not going to be on speed dial, and I hope I'm not on his speed dial," Gregory told Al Roker of the Today Show in February.

"But there will be moments when I will be able to speak to him about faith, about the works that he is trying to accomplish that we can be supportive of, but also areas where we're not going to agree. But I'm going to always try to do it in a respectful way."

In Biden's 36 years in the Senate and eight years as Vice President to President Barack Obama, Biden has reversed himself a number of times on the issue of abortion.

Sources

• New York Post
• NCR
• Crux
• CathNews NZ
• CathNews NZ

He served the archdiocese and the church with singular distinction and is perhaps most remembered for his consistent-ethic-of-life approach to critical issues of the day.

He was guided by three convictions: that there was a need to read the signs of the times; that the church's social teaching had a role not just in deciding issues, but also in shaping and defining them; and that the church was uniquely positioned institutionally to promote the common good in society.

In pressing these convictions he was revolutionary - and so it's no surprise that, even to this day, he has his critics.

But, nearly four decades after the 1983 address at Fordham University in which he introduced this framework, Bernardin deserves a fresh hearing.

He would want us to build on what he did by reading the signs of our times, which I will propose here, makes it clear that the church's social teaching on solidarity, consistently applied across a full range of issues that impact our human interactions, is required.

He understood that the urging of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council to read the signs of the times required the church to be fully engaged in the world by being attentive to what was really happening in the lives of real people, the trends and forces influencing policies and public opinion.

Only in this way could the church be viewed as a credible and authentic voice for speaking about human affairs. I suspect he would have liked how Pope Francis has captured that sentiment in his pithy phrase "realities are greater than ideas".

In reading the signs of his times, Bernardin was concerned about the futility of treating issues like abortion, capital punishment, nuclear proliferation, and the use of military force as discrete topics.

He understood how these issues were divisive in themselves. Continue reading

• Cardinal Blase J. Cupich is the ninth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Archbishop Jose Gomez told a Hispanic pro-life gathering recently that such thinking is mistaken, the Catholic News Agency reported.

He said pro-life issues are not just one issue among many.

The archbishop criticised the effects of a "seamless garment" approach advocated by some Catholics, or what is sometimes called "a consistent ethic of life".

These views mislead people in practice, he said, and result in "a mistaken idea that all issues are morally equivalent".

"So in everything we need to be clear that the root violence in our society is the violence against those who are not yet born and those who are at the end of their lives," the archbishop said.

"If the child in the womb has no right to be born, if the sick and the old have no right to be taken care of - then there is no solid foundation to defend anyone's human rights."

The archbishop recognised many problems and injustices in society, as well as a growing indifference to them.

Injustices include "grave crimes against human life" like abortion, human embryo experimentation, and "the ‘quiet' euthanasia of the old and sick".

Among other injustices are racial discrimination, unemployment and homelessness, and environmental pollution.

The archbishop also noted the problems of violence, drugs, "scandalous" prison conditions, the death penalty, and deportations and injustices in the immigration system.

"I am not trying to say that all of these issues are ‘equal.' They are not. And we always need to be clear about that," he said.

However, while not all equal, the issues are all important, he continued.

"In the face of the suffering and human need in the world, we cannot compartmentalise our compassion or draw lines between those we will care about and those we will not."

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: SCPR