His
Holiness Pope Francis.
We often hear it said that, with respect to relativism and the
flaws of our present world, the situation of migrants, for example, is a lesser
issue. Some Catholics consider it a secondary issue compared to the “grave”
bioethical questions. That a politician looking for votes might say such a thing
is understandable, but not a Christian, for whom the only proper attitude is to
stand in the shoes of those brothers and sisters of ours who risk their lives
to offer a future to their children”
We work hard to save a child from abortion (rightly so) but then stand by whilst human trafficking of enormous proportions is carried out in our day and age. Trafficking of young little children for the purpose of sexual gratification by wicked/evil individuals and groups? As someone said to me recently “because of their innocence and “virginity” What have we become that we have businesses which would do this to children.
Yes we’ve worked and will continue to work hard to save babies in the womb because we believe that they have a right to their life as a gift given to the parents even if they don’t know it and we have saved the child in the womb only to let that child be exploited, used, abused, starved, beaten? Is being pro-life only about life in the womb but nothing else? Are we pro-lifers sabotaging our language just as surely as the pro aborts and pro choicers who sabotage the word “choice” and “rights” are we going to do the same? With the word “pro-life? Meaning only life in the womb? Are we only interested in life in womb or life of a child in its continuum? Life is life. A child is a child even when they are being raped and then passed on to someone else etc. etc. to do the same.
We all remember an image of a little 3 year old Syrian boy found washed up on sea shore about 2-3 years ago. It broke all our hearts seeing that little one floating face down in the water. Dead. Have we
so quickly forgotten? Was the life of
that child whose parents let him live (not aborted him) but then he was lost
due to place of his birth and right/wrong political landscape?
What about pro-life and euthanasia
where elderly are now fearful of going to hospitals just in case they never
leave hospitals alive. Or even the disabled whose life is deemed valueless. Is
this not Pro Life?
We all of us write about our horror
and euthanasia, indeed at this moment we have the story of a distinguished
elderly professor who has gone to Switzerland to have himself done in.
Or even the tragic story of young
Alfie Evans whose life was deemed so useless that even with all the world’s
attention and offers of help from others professionals, hospitals etc. the
courts and hospital and not his parents chose and carried out their decision
that the child must die.
The Holy Father is recognizing these
matters as pro-life matters and we must fight to reclaim the entire meaning of
value of life beginning at conception, its hospitality in the womb and then
deep respect for the humanity from birth to end of life. Life is a continuum it always begins with the
union of a sperm and ova and concludes in a human whose life was intended for
good and joy and mirror the image of its creator and co-workers (parents).
This
little two year old Alfie Evans, just like the little boy washed on sea shore
tugged at heartstrings of all throughout the world, i.e. all who followed the
story. After being removed from life
support he died in the early hours of Saturday morning after having breathed on
his own for 24 hrs. In a hollow voice
the little one’s father said: “My gladiator lay down his shield and gained his
wings at 02:30…absolutely heartbroken. I love you my guy.”
his mother also spoke of his little wings and flying. This is not pro-life work? What is it then?
And this only a matter of short time after
the other child Charlie Gard, at the same hospital and same illness, was also
doomed to die. This should never have
happened. The hospital or the courts or
no one but the parents are the guardians of their child. Or has big brother
started flexing his muscles with the youngest in the womb, disabled, and elderly?
Already?
Is this what we can expect in the
future? Is this not pro-life matters?
This
child Alfie Evans had been granted Italian citizenship to be able to be taken
the Vatican-owned
Bambino Gesù children’s hospital which
had offered to take the child for further diagnosis and treatment, but enter
the British courts which repeatedly refused to allow the transfer, ruling that
it is not in the child’s best interest. So the courts and the hospital and
maybe even the janitor at the hospital deemed that it was in the child’s best
interests but not the parents? Stopping these matters, is this not
pro-life? Where were the parent’s rights
to determine which way to go with their
child? Their child. Or does this mean
that already when someone goes into hospital for treatment they lose their
rights? This is not life matters? We
pro-lifers don’t fight this? Is it too hard?
The Holy Father Pope Francis, supported and prayed for the child and family and offered to encourage public prayer for them who met with Alfie’s father last week, has offered public prayers for Alfie and his family several times, including at a general audience and in several twitter posts
“Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity
If I were a British mother I would not take my child near that place because immediately you enter the doors you lose rights over the outcome and treatment of your child.
This is not pro-life? What are we doing when we can say that these matters are not pro-life?
What are we doing playing with words or semantics.
We must not forget that life is always life and death, no matter how it occurs, is always death.
How interesting in the same week a prince was
born. The media and world rejoiced (and
rightly so) but another young prince (to his parents) was intentionally
left/made/forced to die. There is a
tragic irony in that isn’t there?
The Holy Father Pope Francis, supported and prayed for the child and family and offered to encourage public prayer for them who met with Alfie’s father last week, has offered public prayers for Alfie and his family several times, including at a general audience and in several twitter posts
“Moved by the prayers and immense solidarity
shown little Alfie Evans, I renew my appeal
that the suffering of his parents may be heard and that their desire to seek
new forms of treatment may be granted,” he said Monday on Twitter.
But the final and tragic decision was to keep
the child at that Hospital and die. One
must ask the questions what that hospital had to hide to fight so hard to keep
that child there.
All of this saga not pro-life?
He was spared from death in the womb to be
insisted that he die by same people who would no doubt have carried out many
abortions.
If I were a British mother I would not take my child near that place because immediately you enter the doors you lose rights over the outcome and treatment of your child.
When the Holy Father speaks about poverty
this is considered much much less of a pro-life matter.
Have we forgotten the images of little ones
with bloated bellies and hollow eyes? Or even desperate mothers offering an
empty breast for comfort to her dying little child?This is not pro-life? What are we doing when we can say that these matters are not pro-life?
What are we doing playing with words or semantics.
We must not forget that life is always life and death, no matter how it occurs, is always death.