Pope Francis and the Ireland pro-abortion vote

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Does anyone know if Pope Francis spoke out in any way to Catholics in Ireland prior to the abortion vote last week in the hope of having them vote to save millions of unborn lives? I can’t seem to find anything in the news that he did, and it saddens me greatly.
 
As far as I know, no, but then he has been silent throughout all of this. The folk who are working to try to resolve the terrible extended discoveries at Tuam of more and more mass baby graves, wish dearly that he would visit there in August but so far no word. It is so unlike him? My fear is that he would cancel the visit?
 
I didn’t hear anything from him. It wouldn’t have scored him points with the secular media or Catholic left so I’m not surprised he stayed silent.
 
I too am sad and disappointed the Pope failed to make any kind of statement on this issue. It seems he’ll bend over backwards to beat up a straw man but remain silent on the most grave moral issue of our age.
 
“Rigid” Catholics receive frequent addresses. In comparison, the abortion vote in Ireland seems to have received next to none thus far.
 
I just can’t fathom it. As you say, it IS the most grave moral issue of our age… Too tragic for words. I keep hoping to learn that the Pope somehow did address the issue to Irish Catholics prior to the vote. Maybe via a letter to be read at all Masses there that the rest of us just aren’t aware of???
 
Just stating facts. There has been a deafening silence from the pope about the crisis in (formerly) Catholic Ireland.
 
I think the Pope believes it’s the responsibility of the local bishops to deal with their national issues.
 
Does anyone know if the local Bishops in Ireland wrote letters to be read at Masses prior to the vote - or anything of that sort? Hopefully they did. Unfortunately, if so, it didn’t help.
 
I heard that P. Francis is going to Ireland soon. But the Church did not participate actively in the debate running up to the referendum according to one report that I read.

The Church is supposed to be One Holy Catholic and Apostolic and it seems that “holy” is in danger around the world due to child sex abuse scandals.

We have a new case of such a thing in the Diocese of Saginaw and it is very demoralizing. ALREADY in Michigan a Pew religion survey said that 75 % of people in Michigan don’t have any religious affiliation.

Personally, I think the whole campaign for new evangelization in the last ten years was to push scandals out of the consciousness of Catholics and give them something else to chew on. I am surprised that there are still at least a few people converting to Catholicism, but most of my non-Catholic family are skeptical and cynical about the Catholic Church.

The priests actually tell us that evangelization is not up to the clergy, but up to the laity. Well, they haven’t given us much help with all these scandals. I think Francis is an interim Pope and he’s still got the Vatican Bank mess to clean up along with careerism amidst the Vatican curia. Francis came in saying he wanted to minimize clericalism but I think nothing has filtered down to the level of our local parishes. Everything was supposed to reorganized and reoriented towards evangelization but locally it’s missing in action
 
Very sad to hear that statistic about Michigan, otrrl. The abuse scandals have definitely taken their horrible toll on the Church, possibly even to a huge degree in Ireland. Sounds like we all have to keep praying and evangelizing as much as we possibly can. Thank you for the insightful response. God’s blessings always.
 
Unless he speaks to Congress.

www.bbc.com

Pope Francis addresses US Congress

Pope Francis becomes the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress.
www.bbc.com

Pope Francis has become the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of the United States Congress.

He spoke about his opposition to the death penalty and abortion and emphasized the importance of welcoming immigrants.
 
I don’t blame the Pope for this vote or the condition of the Church in Ireland or anywhere for that matter. And I do think the scandals in the Irish Church have shocked and alienated many, basically justifiably. But that does not justify an individual deciding to vote to legalize the killing of the unborn just to thumb his or her nose at the repressive abusive corrupt Catholic Church.

And there is the whole ‘who am I to judge’ vibe, coupled with conscience so in vogue as the new arbiter in Church teaching - this direction will have consequences that are quite widespread and destructive. This is especially true in the European Church, which has emphasized social justice over personal morality and/or sin for years and years now. I mean the ‘righteous’ are Pharisees these days, right? Again the main cause for what happened in Ireland is that they are not under the thumb of the Catholic Church anymore. They have supplanted it with secular values. My point being even if they were still in the Catholic Church I doubt it would have made much of a difference. The values in the Church are so lukewarm and open. They don’t have a leg to stand on here. They are sadly kind of a moral, cultural vacuum in Europe.
 
I didn’t realize Catholics and the Catholic Church in Europe have become so secular. Very sorry to hear that. Your points seem quite valid. So many prayers are needed for a return to the protection of the unborn and for moral values - throughout the world. It seems like such a losing battle, but it’s one we must never stop fighting if we are to consider ourselves true Catholics.
 
KMG said:
Just stating facts. There has been a deafening silence from the pope about the crisis in (formerly) Catholic Ireland.
Click to expand...
Can you give some examples of a previous Pope where there has not been a deafening silence on a crisis with a similar importance?
 
KMG said:
“Rigid” Catholics receive frequent addresses. In comparison, the abortion vote in Ireland seems to have received next to none thus far.
Click to expand...
Has it ever occurred to world that we have a very LIBERAL Pope? And I speculate that if he was here in the USA, he would have voted for someone other than Trump in the General Election.
 
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