S
stumbler
Guest
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The church in Italy is taking one of its biggest political gambles in decades.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, has called on the country’s Catholics to boycott a June 12-13 referendum that would repeal certain restrictions on artificial reproduction and embryonic research.
But the last time the church told people how to vote, it resulted in two crushing defeats. The church heavily backed two referendums, one in 1974 making divorce illegal and one in 1981 making abortion a crime.
Italians, who are overwhelmingly Catholic, flocked to the polls, but not to do the bidding of the church. They passed both referendums to uphold the legality of divorce and abortion.
This time, 74-year-old Cardinal Ruini is confident of victory.
The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, threw its support behind the bishops’ “no vote” campaign May 25 when it published a front-page article that said staying away from the polls could be an act of defending human life.
“The responsibility of the faithful cannot end with a personal objection” against “the debasement of the human embryo’s life,” said the article, written by Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan, a moral theologian.
The faithful have “a responsibility that’s called to be (carried out in) an effective way … that is abstention,” he wrote.
Earlier this year, Cardinal Ruini said boycotting the polls “is in no way a disengagement” from one’s civic duties.
“It is a stronger and more effective way to oppose the referendum” by making sure the vote is invalidated completely, he said in a March 7 speech to members of the permanent council of Italian bishops.
While some Catholics questioned the move, many Italian church leaders rallied behind Cardinal Ruini and endorsed his call to abstain from the vote.
Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice said it was legitimate to “decide not to take into consideration” a proposed referendum that seeks to repeal a law.
Democracy would not be well-served by “millions of people expressing (their opinion) on such complex problems with a simple check mark on a voting card,” he told the Italian daily, La Repubblica, May 23.
The secretary-general of the Italian bishops’ conference, Bishop Giuseppe Betori, said while Catholics have a duty to vote in elections that are “called by the state” referendums are polls called for by “a group, even if large, of citizens.”
Because a quorum, or 50 percent plus one of all eligible voters, must be reached for a referendum’s results to be valid, not taking part in a referendum is considered a legitimate and alternative way to show opposition to the referendum’s proposals, the bishop told the Italian Catholic daily, Avvenire, March 16…
Full article
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The church in Italy is taking one of its biggest political gambles in decades.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian bishops’ conference, has called on the country’s Catholics to boycott a June 12-13 referendum that would repeal certain restrictions on artificial reproduction and embryonic research.
But the last time the church told people how to vote, it resulted in two crushing defeats. The church heavily backed two referendums, one in 1974 making divorce illegal and one in 1981 making abortion a crime.
Italians, who are overwhelmingly Catholic, flocked to the polls, but not to do the bidding of the church. They passed both referendums to uphold the legality of divorce and abortion.
This time, 74-year-old Cardinal Ruini is confident of victory.
The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, threw its support behind the bishops’ “no vote” campaign May 25 when it published a front-page article that said staying away from the polls could be an act of defending human life.
“The responsibility of the faithful cannot end with a personal objection” against “the debasement of the human embryo’s life,” said the article, written by Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan, a moral theologian.
The faithful have “a responsibility that’s called to be (carried out in) an effective way … that is abstention,” he wrote.
Earlier this year, Cardinal Ruini said boycotting the polls “is in no way a disengagement” from one’s civic duties.
“It is a stronger and more effective way to oppose the referendum” by making sure the vote is invalidated completely, he said in a March 7 speech to members of the permanent council of Italian bishops.
While some Catholics questioned the move, many Italian church leaders rallied behind Cardinal Ruini and endorsed his call to abstain from the vote.
Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice said it was legitimate to “decide not to take into consideration” a proposed referendum that seeks to repeal a law.
Democracy would not be well-served by “millions of people expressing (their opinion) on such complex problems with a simple check mark on a voting card,” he told the Italian daily, La Repubblica, May 23.
The secretary-general of the Italian bishops’ conference, Bishop Giuseppe Betori, said while Catholics have a duty to vote in elections that are “called by the state” referendums are polls called for by “a group, even if large, of citizens.”
Because a quorum, or 50 percent plus one of all eligible voters, must be reached for a referendum’s results to be valid, not taking part in a referendum is considered a legitimate and alternative way to show opposition to the referendum’s proposals, the bishop told the Italian Catholic daily, Avvenire, March 16…
Full article