Recently the pope did an interview and basically said the Catholic Church needs to focus less on issues like abortion. He said the church had become obsessed with the issue along with other issues. I’m not Catholic so maybe it’s not my business but the Pope does have influence over many Christians around the world. He also has influence over public opinion.
The logic of the Pope is that church leaders harping on such issues is turning people away. He believes and I thinking rightly so that people need to come to church to be fixed and not turned away because they are broken. This does not mean that one can still not stand up for what is right and protect those who cannot protect themselves. When there is injustice, Christians should be standing up to it. Not worrying what others will think. This is not to say that you yell at a girl is who afraid because she had a lapse in judgement and cannot see a way out other than abortion. You do not call her a murderer. You don’t look down on her. We have all murdered when we compare ourselves to the standard set by Christ. If you want to look down on a seventeen year old girl for an abortion then examine yourself and make sure you have not called a brother or sister, raca.
What the members of the Church should be doing is to find a way to correct the injustice of abortion. One of the best ways is to fight poverty. Many abortions occur in the poorest areas in the nation and many times involve girls who are minorities. Another is to encourage a girl who is pregnant without scolding her for exploring options that society gives her. One can pray for that girl and that child.
We also need to be attacking the injustice of abortion with facts and logic. This once again means not attacking the individual. I will never know what it’s like to be someone in that position. I do however know that a life is involved. We as pro-lifers many times act as if the life before birth is different than the life after birth. We look at the child as an eternal argument with the pro-choice crowd. We are only willing to yell and scream to save that life. When we would be willing to give much more of ourselves to save children who have cancer. We need to be doing more to save both children.
I say all of that to say this. I understand the point that Pope Francis is making. People need to feel comfortable approaching Christ as they are not as they should be. It reminds me of the hymn, “Just as I am”. He is not condoning abortion. He is saying that eternal matters need more focus along with other social issues. This does not mean that Christians should stop fighting to end abortion. Jesus still told the rich they were greedy and were exploiting the poor while inviting them to follow Him just as they were.
prolifelibertarian 