While lamenting the growing polarization among Catholics, Pope Francis affirmed that the church will never accept the notion that aborting an unborn baby is a solution to any problems.
In an interview with America magazine published Monday, the pope acknowledged that abortion is a divisive issue, including within the Catholic Church, and the church is struggling with polarization on many issues.
“The more polarization there is, the more one loses the Catholic spirit and falls into a sectarian spirit,” he told the Jesuit magazine. “What is Catholic is not either-or, but is both-and, combining differences.”
But when asked if church leaders’ emphasis on the sanctity of life in the United States is too political, Pope Francis reminded readers that abortions kill innocent human beings and an unborn child is a “living human being.” He described abortion as a “crime” against unborn babies, saying killing is not a solution to any problem.
He said the problem with polarization “arises when this reality of killing a human being is transformed into a political question, or when a pastor of the church uses political categories.”
“When I see a problem like this one … become strongly, intensely political, there is a failure of pastoral care in approaching this problem. We cannot deal with (abortion) as if it is only a civil matter,” Pope Francis continued.
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Here’s more from the Catholic News Agency:
Pope Francis did not explain how he thought a bishop or priest could explain church teaching in a way that was pastoral but not political and he declined to give an opinion on whether the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops should present the fight against abortion as its preeminent concern.
“This is a problem the bishops’ conference has to resolve within itself. What interests me is the relationship of the bishop with the people, which is sacramental,” he said. “The sacramental part of the pastoral ministry is in the relationship between the pastor and the people of God, between the bishop and his people. And this cannot be delegated to the bishops’ conference.”
“Jesus did not create bishops’ conferences,” the pope said. “Jesus created bishops, and each bishop is pastor of his people.”
Pope Francis recently faced criticism for appointing a pro-abortion economist to the Pontifical Academy for Life, which promotes protections for human life at all stages and conducts research on moral and bioethical issues.
However, he also repeatedly and openly condemns the killing of unborn babies in abortions, often likening it to hiring a “hitman” to kill a child.
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