Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, has just written an article that strongly condemns Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho, the man who excommunicated the mother and doctors of the 9-year-old girl in Brazil whose stepfather raped her and who was carrying twins in her young womb. Archbishop Fisichella is described in the article as "the Vatican's top bioethics officer."
Archbishop Fisichella said that since excommunication for those who perform abortions is already established canon law, there was no reason for Sobrinho to act so quickly and so publicly, especially when a young member of his flock - remember, a bishop is to be pastor of everyone in his diocese - was suffering so greatly. Sorinho had a pastoral duty, and he neglected it in order to grandstand his self-righteousness.
This article, appearing in the Vatican's "semi-official" newspaper, also contradicted - not implicitly, as the WaPo suggests, but clearly and intentionally - Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, who had already defended the decision to excommunicate the mother and doctors who saved this little girl's life.
As if the foregoing were not enough of a shock to the casual observer of the Roman Catholic Church, this type of public debate over such issues is, according to Sandro Magister, "yet another sign of the disorder that reigns in the Curia. It shows that Benedict XVI is paying the price for refusing to reform the Curia." That type of statement bears further watching and researching, as such disarray, if it truly exists, may be a source of hope for the RCC.
