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Pope Francis – Still Catholic, Still Pro-Life

  On Saturday, Pope Francis gave an address to the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors on the occasion of the organization’s 70th anniversary. For those who have been pondering whether…

 

Source: Google Images - Licensed for Reuse

Source: Google Images – Licensed for Reuse

On Saturday, Pope Francis gave an address to the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors on the occasion of the organization’s 70th anniversary.

For those who have been pondering whether the Pope is still Catholic, still pro-life, etc., I recommend it. And it’s a good read regardless. In particular, his emphasis that medical ethics is not about religion or philosophy. It’s about science:

The dominant thinking sometimes suggests a “false compassion”, that which believes that it is: helpful to women to promote abortion; an act of dignity to obtain euthanasia; a scientific breakthrough to “produce” a child and to consider it to be a right rather than a gift to welcome; or to use human lives as guinea pigs presumably to save others. Instead, the compassion of the Gospel is that which accompanies in times of need, that is, the compassion of the Good Samaritan, who “sees”, “has compassion”, approaches and provides concrete help (cf. Lk 10:33). Your mission as doctors puts you in daily contact with many forms of suffering. I encourage you to take them on as “Good Samaritans”, caring in a special way for the elderly, the infirm and the disabled. Fidelity to the Gospel of life and respect for life as a gift from God sometimes require choices that are courageous and go against the current, which in particular circumstances, may become points of conscientious objection. And this fidelity entails many social consequences. We are living in a time of experimentation with life. But a bad experiment. Making children rather than accepting them as a gift, as I said. Playing with life. Be careful, because this is a sin against the Creator: against God the Creator, who created things this way. When so many times in my life as a priest I have heard objections: “But tell me, why the Church is opposed to abortion, for example? Is it a religious problem?” No, no. It is not a religious problem. “Is it a philosophical problem?” No, it is not a philosophical problem. It’s a scientific problem, because there is a human life there, and it is not lawful to take out a human life to solve a problem. “But no, modern thought…” But, listen, in ancient thought and modern thought, the word “kill” means the same thing. The same evaluation applies to euthanasia: we all know that with so many old people, in this culture of waste, there is this hidden euthanasia. But there is also the other. And this is to say to God, “No, I will accomplish the end of life, as I will.” A sin against God the Creator! Think hard about this.

Remember, he was trained as a chemist, i.e. a scientist. You can find the entire text here. The original Italian text is here.

 

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CNN Reporting 11 Women Killed From A Sterilization Campaign In India

For those who suggested that my post last week, the one with the statement from the Kenyan Bishops on the tetanus vaccines, was feeding into conspiracies about sterilization, CNN has…

For those who suggested that my post last week, the one with the statement from the Kenyan Bishops on the tetanus vaccines, was feeding into conspiracies about sterilization, CNN has a report today on the deaths of eight eleven women who have died after being paid to undergo sterilization in India.

Watch the piece above or read the CNN article.

Some interesting things to note from the CNN information –

  1. [Paid] sterilization campaigns are common in India. Presumably poor women were targeted, women for whom the money would make a difference, women who would think that the risk to their health is worth the compensation. To be fair, these are probably women for whom having [more] children would be a financial burden and for whom contraception may not be that reliable given lack of access, etc.
  2. The issue raised in this situation is the quality of the facility and the medical services.
  3. 11 women have died; 62 others have been hospitalized.
  4. The sterilizations were carried out by one doctor and one assistant; 83 women were sterilized in five hours. That’s about 16 women an hour [16.6]. That’s less than four minutes per woman. Just to give you a bit of context, the American Dental Association recommends that an individual spend two minutes twice a day brushing her teeth. The doctor did not spend even that amount of time on the women he was sterilizing. Or think of it in terms of how long it takes to microwave a bag of popcorn.

Both groups of people targeted in this campaign and those in the alleged tetanus/sterility campaign in Kenya are women of child bearing age.

Many cultures continue to accept the skewed bias that women are somehow worth less than men. I can’t help but think that campaigns like this only reinforce such thinking.

As someone who thinks that contraception is inherently wrong (feel free to agree or disagree in the com-boxes below), I continue to think that one of the best kept secrets is natural family planning (NFP). And given the rates of success – achieving a pregnancy, postponing a pregnancy, and increased intimacy between husband and wife – of some forms of NFP, it seems that maybe this ought to be a priority for the Synod on the family next year. It would address a multitude of issues affecting families in every part of the world, not just certain countries. There’s no reason why international health organizations couldn’t partner to help teach women and men a natural, healthy, and holistic way of determining when and how to use their fertility. And it would be a welcome break from campaigns that continue to suggest that women are less than men or somehow disposable. Naturally, more needs to be done in the area of development: education, economic, etc.

 

 

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UPDATED: Did the Kenyan Bishops Just Expose WHO & UNICEF?

Yesterday, the Bishops of Kenya issued what appeared to be a courageous statement exposing a clandestine population control program disguised as a tetanus vaccine program. From their findings – 2.  …

Yesterday, the Bishops of Kenya issued what appeared to be a courageous statement exposing a clandestine population control program disguised as a tetanus vaccine program.

From their findings –

2.   The Tetanus Vaccine
Dear Kenyans, due to the direction the debate on the ongoing Tetanus Vaccine campaign in Kenya is taking, We, the Catholic Bishops, in fulfilling our prophetic role,  wish to restate our position as follows:

  1. The Catholic Church is NOT opposed to regular vaccines administered in Kenya, both in our own Church health facilities and in public health institutions.
  2. However, during the second phase of the Tetanus vaccination campaign in March 2014, that is sponsored by WHO/UNICEF,  the Catholic Church questioned the secrecy of the exercise. We raised questions on whether the tetanus vaccine was linked to a population control program that has been reported in some countries, where a similar vaccine was laced  with Beta- HCG hormone which causes infertility and multiple miscarriages in women.
  3. On March 26, 2014 and October 13, 2014, we met the Cabinet Secretary in-charge of health and the Director of Medical Services among others and rasied our concerns about the Vaccine and agreed to jointly test the vaccine. However the ministry did not cooperate and the joint tests were not done
  4. The Catholic Church struggled and acquired several vials of the vaccine, which we sent to Four unrelated  Government and private laboratories in Kenya and abroad.
  5. We want to announce here, that all the tests showed that the vaccine used in Kenya in March and October 2014  was indeed laced with the Beta- HCG hormone.
  6. On 13th of October 2014, the Catholic Church gave copies of the results to the cabinet secretary and the Director of Medical Services. The same was emailed to the Director of Medical Services on October 17, 2014.

Based on the above grounds, We, the Catholic Bishops in Kenya, wish to State the following:

  1. That we are shocked at the level of dishonesty and casual manner in which such a serious issue is being handled by the Government.
  2. That a report presented to the Parliamentary Committee on Health  November 4, 2014 by the Ministry of Health, claiming that the Government had tested the Vaccine and found it clean of  Beta- HCG hormone, is false and a deliberate attempt to distort the truth and mislead 42 million Kenyans.
  3. That we are dismayed by attempts to intimidate and blackmail medical professionals who have corroborated information about the vaccine, with threats of disciplinary action. We commend and support all professionals who have stood by the truth.
  4. That we shall not waver in calling upon all Kenyans to avoid the tetanus vaccination campaign laced with Beta-HCG, because we are convinced that  it is indeed a disguised population control programme.

The level of deception and disregard for human dignity on the part of WHO & UNICEF is chilling. Here’s yet another case of a powerful entities deciding that they know what’s best for an individual without even consulting her.

These actions shake any trust in genuine health care. After all, this is a tetanus shot laced with Beta-HCG hormone to cause infertility and miscarriages. The shot that’s supposed to protect  a woman from a serious infection, let’s say, from a rusty nail or some other puncture wound, is now robbing her of her ability and decision to have children.

Even in the developed countries, where we are contracepting ourselves out of existence, infertility carries a stigma. A woman is still supposed to be able to have a baby if she wants one.

In the developing countries, a woman’s fertility generally is still considered to be a good thing, a blessing even, so much so that women who suffer from infertility are often stigmatized and shunned, considered unequal among other women.

If the Bishops statement is true, WHO and UNICEF have robbed these women of one of their most basic rights and cherished gifts. If it’s true, these health organizations may have just created a climate in which general health care will be shunned by people who – rightly – do not want to have their bodies manipulated by the very organizations that should be promoting health in accord with human dignity.

I hope the Bishops release their findings so that more light can be shed on the situation. At the moment, it’s so awful that even I have run out of words.

UPDATE: MaterCare.org corroborates the Kenyan Bishops’ statement. Of particular note –

Our concern and the subject of this discussion is the WHO/UNICEF sponsored tetanus immunization campaign launched last year in October ostensibly to eradicate neonatal tetanus. It is targeted at girls and women between the ages of 14 – 49 (child bearing age) and in 60 specific districts spread all around the country. The tetanus vaccine being used in this campaign has been imported into the country specifically for this purpose and bears a different batch number from the regular TT. So far, 3 doses have been given – the first in October 2013, the second in March 2014 and the third in October 2014. It is highly possible that there are two more doses to go.

Giving five doses of tetanus vaccination every 6 months is not usual or the recommended regime for tetanus vaccination. The only time tetanus vaccine has been given in five doses is when it is used as a carrier in fertility regulating vaccines laced with the pregnancy hormone – Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) developed by WHO in 1992.

When tetanus is laced with HCG and administered in five doses every 6 months, the woman develops antibodies against both the tetanus and the HCG in 2 – 3 years after the last injection. Once a mother develops antibodies against HCG, she rejects any pregnancy as soon as it starts growing in her womb thus causing repeated abortions and subsequent sterility.

WHO conducted massive vaccinations campaigns using the tetanus vaccine laced with HCG in Mexico in 1993 and Nicaragua and Philippines in 1994 ostensibly to eradicate neonatal tetanus. The campaign targeted women aged 14 – 49 years and each received a total of 5 injections.

Read the entire statement. This needs international action. At the very least, letters of inquiry from national governments so that serious investigations are undertaken. Surreptitious sterilization is a serious human rights violation.

UPDATE 2 (Friday, 2.30 p.m. PT) – A friend just sent me a link to this piece in a Kenyan paper by Dr. Luis Franceschi, LLB, LL.M, LL.D, Dean of the Strathmore Law School, Law Lecturer and Legal Advisor to several national and international government commissions and programs. I think it’s a great overview that emphasizes the need for transparency, honesty, and real collaboration for the good. He writes:

The concern of many doctors is based on the fact that the WHO/Unicef-sponsored tetanus immunisation campaign launched last year in October uses a vaccine that was imported into the country specifically for this purpose [sterilization], and bears a different batch number from the regular tetanus toxoid.

….Could WHO have become an instrument of forced human manipulation and eugenics? Who knows? WHO says no. It is essential to entrust this matter to an impartial scientifically qualified third party.

….Government, churches and WHO must come together and work together. The three are key players in our health-care system. Anyone who looks down upon the Church’s health-care involvement and capacity is ignorant and has not travelled too far outside Nairobi.

The divide can be easily remedied. It is a matter of trust. The solution is simple, but requires from all sides a little token of humility and the capacity to back-pedal.

The government should bring on board the Church and representatives from WHO and hand in genuine samples of this vaccine batch to independent labs. If the vaccine is laced with hCG, then the campaign should be suspended. If it is not, the Church should apologise and support the campaign.

Clearly, one of the two should back-pedal, and this depends purely on scientific evidence, not religious or moral convictions.

Again, read his entire piece. For the sake of all involved, for the sake of human dignity, human rights, and human health, clear and true answers need to be found.

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How To Make A Baby

Let me share with you two articles that I never would have put together except for the very, very different ways in which they approach human procreation. The New York…

Let me share with you two articles that I never would have put together except for the very, very different ways in which they approach human procreation.

The New York Times had one of those #FirstWorld, first person narratives by the spouse of a lesbian couple desperate to get pregnant. As it turns out, a friend and her husband decide that they will donate his sperm to this woman and her spouse. The author flies out to collect the sperm and inseminate herself. Here’s how she describes the process of making a baby:

I had packed some corn-griddle cakes with black beans for Wilson [her sperm donor], thinking it could be funny but also seem like a sweet barter exchange. My friend kept the car purring at the curb as I paced outside Wilson’s stoop until he emerged, handed over the jar with its precious contents and gave me a quick hug. Then off we went, my friend peeling out as I pushed the jar under my shirt for warmth.

Back at her place, with my hips hoisted on pillows, I used an oral syringe to inseminate myself. Devoid of any sexual act, I felt like an amoeba trying to reproduce itself, or a teenager experimenting with a bizarre science project. I didn’t feel like an adult or mother. I certainly didn’t feel like this could ever result in a gorgeous, sweet baby. [Emphasis mine.]

Anyone who’s even the least familiar with my thoughts and views knows that I’m not a fan of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and that I thoroughly agree with the teachings of the Catholic Church.

But this description was not written by me. It’s written by someone on board with the idea of separating procreation from sex.

The second article was in the National Catholic Reporter, written by Melinda Henneberger. The article investigates allegations that throughout the 1970s and into the 1990s children in Chile were stolen from the poor to be given to the rich, often with the help of Catholic institutions.

Can I believe it? Yep. The Catholic Church does not always execute her plans perfectly. She’s made up of fallible human beings who are also influenced by the surrounding culture. History is replete with examples of institutions, religious and governmental, deciding that they know better than the individuals in question.

Is it true? Possibly. We’ll see what comes out as the investigation proceeds.

But here’s what struck me about the article: the articulation of how new life is brought into the world.

One of the couples interviewed are Hernán and Rosa, a farm hand and a seasonal worker respectively, whose healthy twins supposedly died soon after birth. However, they were given no documentation and never saw the infants’ bodies, etc. They still hope that their sons are alive and that they might meet them despite potentially significant disparities in their socioeconomic status. Here’s the beautiful part, when their father describes how they came to be:

“They were created by love,” Hernán added softly.

I’m not saying that the lesbian couple does not experience love or that they do not love their son. However, the stories of how each family came to “make” their children is vastly different when you listen to their own words. These are their stories told in their own words, not mine.

I searched for the word “love” in the NYT story. Couldn’t find it. If you find that I’ve missed it let me know.

While hopefully motivated by love, I can’t get over the sort of mechanistic approach that the first couple engages in. In fact, the other spouse is not even present for the do-it-yourself insemination and a little of the tension that she might be feeling as the non-biological parent of her son comes out in the article.

Now, to be fair, there are plenty of heterosexual couples who go about making a baby in the same way. Those who struggle with infertility might seem pretty mechanical about the whole process of love making/sex even if they aren’t using ART. There are also those who create babies without even thinking about it or without being intentional in their expression of love for each other or for the children they might create.

But I remain struck by the articulation of the couple in Chile, the husband’s words, “They were created by love.” It’s pure St. John Paul II. He said that children deserved to be created as a result of love. [If you know the exact reference for this, do let me know!]

And, again, to be fair, the first couple would probably make a very compelling argument that their child was created by love, including the generosity of the donor couple. However, the author never uses the word “love” herself.

Two narratives about making a baby, set apart by decades, culture, socioeconomic status, and many other differences. But one rings truer to me because the creation of those children was a direct consequence of the marital expression of love between a husband and wife.

“They were created by love.”

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Catholic League Tricked

Yesterday, Catholic League put out a press release with statements from CL’s president, Bill Donohue commenting on “Walmart’s Catholic Problem.” “Fat Girl Costumes” sold by Walmart were the subject of…

Dana Carvey as "The Church Lady." Sorry, but she sort of fits the hype of the Walmart story. Unless there's more info that hasn't been documented publicly. Source: Google Images, license for reuse.

Dana Carvey as “The Church Lady.” Sorry, but she sort of fits the hype of the Walmart story. Unless there’s more info that hasn’t been documented publicly. Source: Google Images, license for reuse.

Yesterday, Catholic League put out a press release with statements from CL’s president, Bill Donohue commenting on “Walmart’s Catholic Problem.”

“Fat Girl Costumes” sold by Walmart were the subject of a deep apology and a pledge to rid the store’s inventory of such demeaning garb. Yesterday, when Catholics who are on our news release list complained to Walmart about three offensive Catholic costumes—a Virgin Mary with blood dripping from her eyes, a nun outfit with a skeleton head, and a costume that mocks the confessional—they got a different response.
“We apologize if we offended you. Because we have multiple buyers of customers, we try to provide them with plenty of options. However, we have documented your concern in order to improve our inventory at Walmart.com and in stores.”

I was so bothered by the story that I opted to not make a purchase at a Walmart yesterday. But then I realized that I really didn’t know much about the story; so I decided to return to the Walmart and see what I could find. In speaking with the manager, I got a little more info. Apparently, the Walmart site was hacked and that’s how the “Fat Girl Costumes” got there. This manager had seen none of the offending costumes (they’ve been sold out of costumes for a while now) and, given what I’ve consistently seen in this Walmart, I believed him. It’s family friendly, lots of Christian materials.

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From the Wal-Mart website

I went to the Walmart website. Yes, there’s the offending nun costume.

But no Virgin Mary with bleeding eyes or “a costume that mocks the confessional,” whatever that may be.

There are Virgin Mary costumes, priest costumes, and rabbi costumes. (No imam costumes, for what it’s worth.)

But in all fairness, these costumes could be purchased and used without being offensive. Heck, lots of Catholics and other Christians encourage alternative Halloween celebrations, e.g. saints, harvest costumes, etc.

So here’s my point. Catholic League may be completely right in their statement, but it’s difficult to verify. They don’t have the offending costumes pictured on their website, much less identified as Walmart merchandise. It’s unclear what one of the offending costumes might even look like. And there’s a bit of a back story, which sounds legitimate, about the “Fat Girl Costumes.”

I think we need to be very careful as Catholic experts and commentators when we run with a story. Is it accurate? Do we know enough? The commentary surrounding the recent Synod was evidence of more imprecision and confusion.

As Archbishop Chaput recently reminded us, confusion is of the devil. Our job is not to add to the confusion or to create it, but to be light that dispels darkness and confusion.

Catholic League, please shed some light on your story. I’m happy to post anything that you can document. Right now, it’s just confusing.

 

 

 

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Are the Democrats Anti-Catholic?

Mark Miloscia, the Republican candidate for Washington State’s 30th district, has been targeted by the despicable ad above, which has since been removed from the website that hosted it. [Click…

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Screenshot from MarkMiloscia.info. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Mark Miloscia, the Republican candidate for Washington State’s 30th district, has been targeted by the despicable ad above, which has since been removed from the website that hosted it. [Click on the image above to see a larger version.] But reportedly hard copies of it were put on display along with other materials for his opponent at a recent political event.

I met Mark Miloscia while working on various projects in Washington. At the time he was a true blue Democrat state rep and was so pro-life that he was a vegetarian. Active in his community and church, Mark was and is someone to be admired.

However, the Democratic party turned on him when he held his own on the marriage issue, standing in favor of traditional marriage. That cost him his run for state auditor. He then did a short stint as a lobbyist for the Catholic Conference.

Finally, with Republicans courting him, he switched parties and is now running for state senate. He explained his decision to switch parties in an op-ed here where he described his experience of not being accepted in the party as a Catholic who’s pro-life. Hard to imagine given that this is the party that helped to elect the first Catholic president.

Yet, at their last national convention, a significant portion of the Democrats tried to take God out of their party platform. Nevertheless, they invited Cardinal Dolan to give an invocation. Clearly, they were managing a major public relations battle.

The fact that no Democrat leader has stepped up to condemn the above ad speaks volumes. The silence is deafening.

The ad faults Mark from being from the South. Ironically, this is the type of ad one might have expected in the South decades ago. According to the ad, Mark has a major flaw: he’s Catholic.

The Daily Caller has more on this story, perhaps most notable that while Mark’s opponent Shari Song has condemned the ad, she also suggests that she knows who did the ad:

But Song, who condemned the image, wrote on Facebook that she told the activist to stop the anti-Catholic attacks, writing, ”I understand one of my supporters may have crossed the line of what is appropriate in that regard, and I’ve asked them to stop.”

Maybe it’s easier to get away with an ad like this in Washington state, which is largely un-churched. As I write this post, I’m visiting New York. It’s hard to imagine someone even thinking of putting out an ad like this in New York or New Jersey where Democrats are so heavily tied to Catholic culture.

But this deserves national attention even if it’s being done in a state that most people on the east coast don’t think about very often. This sort of ad needs to be condemned by national Democrat leaders. Otherwise, taken with things like the attempt to remove God from the party platform, they’re sending a clear signal that their type of diversity does not include Catholics and probably not most Evangelical Christians, Muslims, or any others who have socially conservative beliefs and values.

 

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St. John Paul II: The First Lesson In Surviving. Anything.

Ok, it’s the first official feast of St. John Paul II, a man who was known by more people than any other contemporary figure in history. By this I mean,…

Here I am, one of the thousands who got to meet personally a man who is surely one of the most impacting saints of all time.

Here I am, one of the thousands who got to meet personally a man who is surely one of the most impactful saints of all time.

Ok, it’s the first official feast of St. John Paul II, a man who was known by more people than any other contemporary figure in history. By this I mean, no one else in human history has been so familiar to so many people while he or she was alive. He was Pope for about 26 and a half years. Visited 129 countries, some of them repeatedly. Millions of people saw him, perhaps even more heard him, thousands met him. I know people who first became aware of their religious or clerical vocations just by seeing him. A classmate of mine was not even a practicing Catholic when he saw the Pope on a trip abroad. This man was in the crowds, just out of curiosity. But when he saw the Pope, he instantly experienced an interior call to conversion (reversion) and to religious life. All in an instant of seeing one man at a distance.

One of the greatest lessons I learned from St. John Paul II’s example stems from his first words as Pope, “Non abbiate paura.” Do not be afraid.  This has been a guiding principle that I continue to appreciate more and more. It’s certainly one that I relied on as we sifted through the news on the recent Synod.

I leave you with a post I wrote around the time of his canonization a few months ago in which I discussed how he affected our understanding of feminism and opened up possibilities that have yet to be explored fully. And nope, I don’t mean women’s ordination.

Throughout his pontificate, the Pope frequently recognized the situations of women who were abused or disadvantaged. In no way did he support an idea of patriarchy which required the domination of women. Rumor has it that when he saw a draft document of the UN Beijing Women’s Conference in 1995, he dryly noted that a document that concerned itself so much with women’s fertility should at least concern itself as much with women’s literacy.

Rather than hash out a really tired anything-you-can-do-I-can-do debate that had been heard for decades, John Paul II shifted the conversation from doing to being.

Read more.

Happy feast!

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Cardinal Burke – In or Out?

Buzzfeed has an interview with Cardinal Burke which makes it sound like he’s out. Sorta. But read carefully. Is he confirming a rumor or is it more? Nothing is formal….

Question_mark_(black_on_white)Buzzfeed has an interview with Cardinal Burke which makes it sound like he’s out. Sorta. But read carefully. Is he confirming a rumor or is it more? Nothing is formal. Then again, Pope Francis never confirmed him in his position as head of the Apostolic Signatura. Vatican watchers would be better able to judge the significance of that. For example, who else has not been confirmed in their positions? Read carefully this section from Buzzfeed:

In the interview with BuzzFeed News, Burke confirmed publicly for the first time the rumors that he had been told Francis intended to demote him from the church’s chief guardian of doctrine to a minor post as patron to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
“I very much have enjoyed and have been happy to give this service, so it is a disappointment to leave it,” Burke said, explaining that he hadn’t yet received a formal notice of transfer. “On the other hand, in the church as priests, we always have to be ready to accept whatever assignment we’re given. And so I trust by accepting this assignment I trust that God will bless me, and that’s what’s in the end most important.”


I find it interesting that he hasn’t met with Pope Francis. Too bad BuzzFeed didn’t ask him who told him. Also, interesting that he hasn’t yet received formal notice.

All we have is confirmation that there is a rumor and that Burke has been told the rumor. It will be interesting to see how things settle out after the close of the Synod, particularly in light of Cardinal Kasper’s most unfortunate comments concerning the African Bishops.

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