President of the Italian Bishops' Conference equivocates on the evil of abortion

Cardinal Zuppi on Law 194: "A painful law". It is rather an iniquitous law that must be repealed

"Regarding Cardinal Zuppi on Law 194. Which, moreover, call to mind the even more disconcerting ones made by another prelate linked to Sant'Egidio, Monsignor Paglia, who stated that Law 194 represents a "pillar of our social life", adding that it is "absolutely" not under discussion. That unfortunately that law that led to the killing of six million human beings in their mothers' wombs is defended on both the right and the left by politicians fearful of making themselves unpopular is a given; but that Church exponents are so oblivious to the homicidal reality of the measure in question, even when it is defined as such by their Pontiff of reference, is not surprising, but deeply saddening" (Marco Tosatti).

"One cannot but start with the repeal of this law. A state that decides to make the murder of children legal is destined to face profound demoralisation, as well as low demographics. This is exactly what happened to Italy and Europe. It is time to repeal Law 194' (Cesare Sacchetti).

Abortion: we ask Cardinal Zuppi for clarification on Law 194

"A painful law", but one that "guarantees an important secular translation" and that "no one thinks of questioning". These were the words - learnt with perplexity and amazement - that Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, President of the Italian Bishops' Conference, spoke on 2 April in an interview with the editor-in-chief of Domani Stefano Feltri, regarding Law 194 on abortion. There was talk of rights, and His Eminence said - rightly - that 'the Church is in favour of rights'. It would be necessary, however, to clarify which rights, or rather what is meant by such.

We are certain that Cardinal Zuppi does not consider abortion a right. But if 'no one' questions Law 194, then the unborn would have no right to life in blatant violation of natural moral law. And it is impossible to protect the various 'human rights' if the right to life, which is a necessary precondition of all others, is not guaranteed. This is why we hope His Eminence will soon clarify that there is no right for mothers to suppress their children in the womb.

The Church has always affirmed, through the words of the Popes, the iniquity of abortion. Pope Francis, on more than one occasion, has described abortion as a real murder, even likening the practice to hiring a hitman.

And the speeches and documents of Pope Benedict XVI and St John Paul II have also always been unequivocal.

In particular, the Polish Pope - who was elected a few months after the approval of Law 194 - was always very clear and firm not only against the practice of abortion, but also against the legislative and referendum petitions in its favour. In March 1981, in fact, he mentioned the declaration of the bishops who had then come out against the law. 'I make my own,' he said, 'their pastoral concern for every man and for the whole of society'. A few days later he clarified that abortion is not a private matter, but concerns the whole of society. On 10 May of the same year, however, he affirmed in front of over 70,000 people, during the Regina Coeli, that "the Church considers any legislation in favour of procured abortion as a most serious offence against the primary rights of man and the commandment of 'thou shalt not kill'" and even defined as "a holy cause" what the Church herself was doing to defend the "holy inviolability of conceived life". Even in his encyclicals and especially in Evangelium vitae - of 1995 - John Paul II deplored abortion, listing it among the 'structures of sin', the 'social' sins for which we are all responsible if we passively accept them.

Benedict XVI, on the occasion of the 17th General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, reiterated that "abortion is never the solution", and warned society of the danger faced by the mother, "often convinced, sometimes by doctors themselves, that abortion is not only a morally licit choice, but even a dutiful 'therapeutic' act to avoid suffering to the child and its family, and an unfair burden on society".

It is true, as His Eminence Cardinal Zuppi says, that matters are almost never black and white, and that there is a vast grey area in which discernment must be made.

But if a law allows the voluntary killing of the most defenceless and weakest of human beings, the baby in the mother's womb, we cannot see where this grey area would be. We therefore hope that His Eminence will soon help the faithful in their discernment by clarifying that Law 194 is objectively unjust and contrary to natural law and hence to the Magisterium of the Church.

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