Today I read about a poor 9 year old girl in Brazil who was raped by her Stepfather. The poor child wound up being pregnant with twins. It was recommended that she get an abortion since she most likely would not be able to carry the babies to term. I vaguely remember in High School Health class being told that the odds of a baby being born to someone so young would increase the risk of a baby not being fully developed. That seems to be a no brainer.
So of course the regional archbishop, Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, did what would be expected. He excommunicated the little girl and her Mother. Let me repeat, he excommunicated the rape victim, a 9 year old girl, a child.
Luckily the rapist, her Stepfather, was not excommunicated since his crime was not as terrible.
And on cue, the Vatican defended this decision.
I really wouldn't expect the Catholic Church to condone abortion, but do you think they might just keep their mouth shut due to the disgusting nature of this crime, and the fact that a little girls life has been scarred for life. Of course not.
I hope that maybe some of the reports jumped the gun on this, and that the Archbishop did not actually excommunicate these people and that he realizes the true tragedy of what has happened.
It's more than likely that most Catholics probably find that there are times when abortion may actually be the more humane thing to do, for both the sake of the Mother and the child. But as usual, the people of the church usually see things in a more realistic way than the hierarchy do.
Welcome to the 1400's.
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