Archbishop Jose Cordosa Sobrinho with press
The case of the nine-year old Brazilian girl who became pregnant with twins after being abused by her stepfather is sickening enough, but the tragedy of the child's violation verges on the grotesque when you consider how the Catholic Church has acted in this case.
The mother of the pregnant girl and the doctors involved have been excommunicated by the Church for providing abortion assistance to the child. The rapist stepfather on the other hand hasn't been excommunicated due to the weird priorities of canon law.
Cardinal Giovanna Battista Re told the Catholic paper La Stampa that the twins had "a right to live." What about the will of the child who was used by the stepfather? What about the violation of her body and the psychological wounds she will carry for many years to come?
The readiness of the Catholic Church to attack those who helped the child simply confirms that this is a Church that has allowed ideology to overrule common sense. A victimized child should not be birthing children.
Quite aside from the moral objections in this case, there were sound medical reasons for making the decision to abort. Brazil only permits abortion in cases of rape and health risks to the mother. The doctors involved made clear that the girl's case met both conditions.
Even so, Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Jose Cardosa Sobrinho said the law of God was above any human law. What Sobrinho refers to as the 'law of God' is law that reflects Vatican priorities - revised and amended over the years by Catholic theologians.
The President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio da Silva, himself a Catholic, said he regretted what he described as a bishop's 'deeply conservative attitude'.
The sexual assaults by the stepfather spanned a number of years. Quite aside from the pregnancy, the child has been damaged as a result of living in a dysfunctional home where she became a target of ongoing abuse from a young age. For a nine-year old in these circumstances to become the mother of twins in order to satisfy the requirements of the Catholic Church would have turned a tragedy into a horror show.
An abortion was the correct decision in this case.
