MEXICO CITY (AP) — The auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Mexico said Wednesday that legislators who vote in favor of a proposed bill to legalize abortion in Mexico City would automatically be excommunicated when the first procedure was performed under the law.
Bishop Marcelino Hernandez said that, rather than any specific canonical procedure, that lawmakers who back the bill would automatically separate themselves from the church.
"The person excommunicates himself, it’s not that the Church goes around with a rod, looking for people who make mistakes, in order to hit them on the head," Hernandez told reporters when speaking of an expected vote in April by Mexico City lawmakers on a proposal to legalize abortion during the first three months of pregnancy.
Hernandez repeated the Roman Catholic Church’s traditional opposition to abortion, on the same day that representatives of Orthodox and some evangelical Protestant churches issued a joint press statement opposing legalized abortion in Mexico.
While some Catholics have proposed holding a referendum on the proposed Mexico City law, Hernandez said the church’s position is that "life is not subject to a vote."
I wish this was actually the case, but Canon 1398 in no way can be interpreted to support this and has been interpreted to only include those directly involved in the abortion and not generically to those who support or directly vote for abortion.
A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication.
7 comments
Jeff,
Long time reader, first-time commenter. You do brilliant work here. And a Happy 8th Re-Birthday!
You may wish to re-word this post. I expected you to wish the Church would go around bopping people on the head with a rod! St. Bunny-Foo-Foo can visit for Eastertide!
God bless,
JimmyV
“the Roman Catholic Church’s traditional opposition to abortion”
Yeah, opposition to abortion is just a tradition.
Actually, didn’t it also include those who actively participate in acts that make abortifacient activities more freely available?
Canon 1398 does not lend itself to the interpretation stated; namely, that anyone who votes for the legalization of abortion is excommunicated latae sententiae. But it could be argued that canon 1329, which deals with accomplices in crimes that bear a sentence carried latae sententiae, accomplices who make the crime possible, does allow permit Hernandez warn his flock of the impending danger to their souls.
It must be a terrible crime in the eyes of Almighty God to vote for the allowance of the killing of thousands and perhaps millions of babies! This would be a great time for the Virgin of Guadalupe to pay a surprise return visit!
Who would believe her when she returns? I fear we’d be more prone to listen if ravaged by plagues than if confronted with eternal beauty in human form.
Despite the stated canonical faux pas, I like the bishop’s attitude. I hope he is supported in it. At least his stance will cause a wave of opposition, which is better than keeping quiet and seeing abortion as a sad “product of the times”, as too many catholics do, and as I once did.