Click on this link for the MP3 file for Father Swink's homily.Meanwhile, one of the leakers has made an anonymous appearance on Italian television
By Paolo Gambi on Thursday, 23 February 2012
Benedict XVI at the consistory last weekend (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
A Vatican clerk has appeared anonymously on an Italian TV show as one of the 20 leakers. He claimed that the “Vatileaks” had taken place because of the kidnap of a girl, Emanuela Orlandi, 30 years ago and because of the 1998 Swiss Guard murders. He was talking through his hat. Everyone knows the leaks are being driven by a war between Vatican officials.
I have already said I would like to see the back of these leakers, but I am just an angry lay man. The Holy Father has shown a better attitude towards the problem. This attitude is summarised in his request for prayer: “Pray also for me, that I may continually offer to the People of God the witness of sound doctrine and guide holy Church with a firm and humble hand.” Let us see how this sound doctrine and his firm and humble hand apply to this internal war.
Talking to the new cardinals he commented on the “scene of the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, who are still pursuing dreams of glory beside Jesus. They ask him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mk 10:37)”. And he shows how this “erroneous logic” conquers the 12, who “began to be indignant at James and John” (Mk 10:41). Two thousand years ago the war had already begun.
Jesus’s answer is very clear: “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.” (Mk 10:43-44). Is the Pope talking to his bishops, showing them in the Gospel the way to stop this internal war? If so, there is a reason the Pope said: “These words shed light upon today’s public consistory with a particular intensity. They resound in the depths of the soul and represent an invitation and a reminder, a commission and an encouragement.”
Once again the Pope has subtly answered his critics. We have the Holy Spirit. We have the Holy Father. And thank God they are on the same page.
Source: Catholic Herald
Pope Benedict said : “The human and Christian dignity of procreation, consists not in a "product", but in its connection with the conjugal act, an expression of love of the spouses, their union which is not only biological but also spiritual”.
Published February 23, 2012
| Associated Press
AP
The prospect of free, government-ordered contraceptives and even agents to induce abortion, has ignited a national debate.
TACOMA, Wash. – In a ruling that appears headed toward appeal, a federal judge has ruled that Washington state cannot force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives.
The state's true goal in adopting the rules at issue was not to promote the timely access to medicine, but to suppress religious objections by druggists who believe that such drugs can have an effect tantamount to abortion, U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton said in his ruling Wednesday.
Washington's rules require that pharmacies stock and dispense drugs for which there is a demand. The state adopted the dispensing regulations in 2007, following reports that some women had been denied access to Plan B, which has a high dose of medicine found in birth-control pills and is effective if a woman takes it within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
State lawyers argued that the requirements are legal because they apply neutrally to all medicines and pharmacies, and because they promote a government interest -- the timely delivery of medicine, including Plan B, which becomes less effective as time passes.
But a pharmacy and two pharmacists sued, saying the rules infringed on their religious freedom, and the judge agreed.
The state allows all sorts of business exemptions to the rules, he noted. Pharmacies can decline to stock a drug, such as certain painkillers, if it's likely to increase the risk of theft, or if it requires an inordinate amount of paperwork, or if the drug is temporarily unavailable from suppliers, among other reasons.
"The most compelling evidence that the rules target religious conduct is the fact the rules contain numerous secular exemptions," the judge said. "In sum, the rules exempt pharmacies and pharmacists from stocking and delivering lawfully prescribed drugs for an almost unlimited variety of secular reasons, but fail to provide exemptions for reasons of conscience."
The decision comes as contraception has been debated in political and health care circles around the nation. A controversy erupted this month when religious groups protested a new federal rule that required church-affiliated universities, hospitals and nonprofits to include birth control without co-pays or premiums in their insurance plans.
The outcry prompted President Barack Obama to change the rule to shift the burden from religious organizations to insurance companies. Lawmakers in a few conservative states have taken up the fight with proposals that serve as direct challenges to Obama's ruling.
Leighton, in his decision Wednesday, did not strike down Washington's rules, but said simply that the way they were applied to the plaintiffs in this case was unconstitutional.
The state remains free to try to enforce the law against other pharmacies that violate the stocking and dispensing rules, whether for Plan B or other drugs; it remains unclear whether courts would reach a similar conclusion if pharmacies objected to selling other drugs for religious reasons.
"I remain concerned about the impacts on patients if pharmacies are allowed to refuse to dispense lawfully prescribed or lawful medications to patients," said Gov. Chris Gregoire, who insisted on the dispensing rule's adoption. "I am especially concerned about those living in rural areas, many of whom may have few alternatives and could suffer lengthy delays in receiving medication or go without entirely."
The judge, an appointee of President George W. Bush, first blocked the state's dispensing rule in 2007. But a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel overruled him, saying the rules did not target religious conduct. It sent the case back to Leighton, who held an 11-day trial before reaffirming his original decision.
Further appeals were expected, both from the state and from groups that intervened on the state's behalf. Before taking more than an hour to read his 48-page opinion in court, Leighton acknowledged that he crafted it for the benefit of a "skeptical" appeals court.
The interveners included women who were denied timely access to Plan B when they needed it -- one of whom cut short a vacation in central Washington to return home to Bellingham, where she knew she could obtain Plan B from her regular pharmacy -- as well as HIV patients, who argued that if druggists could refuse to dispense Plan B for religious reasons, some might also refuse to dispense time-sensitive HIV medications.
"The question really is whether the patient's rights come first or the pharmacist's rights come first," said Andrew Greene, a lawyer for the interveners.
Assistant Attorney General Rene Tomisser said Leighton's ruling was "more detailed" but made the same mistake he made in 2007.
Margo Thelen, of Woodland, one of the pharmacists who sued over the rules, said she had to leave one job because she refused to dispense Plan B -- and now she can continue working at her new job without fear of being fired.
"Speak to anyone who shops in a pharmacy," she said. "Their product isn't always available."
Two Supreme Court cases guide judges in determining whether laws that infringe upon the free exercise of religion are legal.
In one, the court held that the state of Oregon could outlaw the use of the hallucinogenic peyote for everyone, even though some groups might use it in religious conduct.
In the other, the court held that a city in Florida could not outlaw animal sacrifices for religious purposes, while allowing the slaughter of animals for food, hunting and pest eradication.
Leighton said Washington's rules are akin to the Florida case. Though they appear to be neutral by their plain language, the state allows pharmacies not to stock or sell drugs for various business reasons, he said.
