Op-Ed: Catholic Church Tries to Pressure Amnesty International

The Church continues to throw its weight around, proving again that its concern is, as it always has been, for souls rather than human beings. What happens to real women and real children is considerably less important to this medieval institution.

In a rather belated response to the rape of women in war zones like Darfur, last April, after two years of discussion and debate, Amnesty International adopted a policy supporting women's rights to the termination of a pregnancy in cases of incest or rape. That's hardly a controversial stance these days, except for extreme conservatives, including the prelates of the Church. "The debate over whether rape and incest victims should be entitled to abortions has led to calls from senior members of the Catholic church in Britain and Rome for a withdrawal of support from the organization." They called for withdrawal of the Vatican's support, despite the simple fact that any support it's given has been verbal only, since Amnesty has never received funds from the Vatican. The Church also wants Catholics throughout the world to withhold their support for the organization, ignoring the reality of its waning influence, since growing numbers of Catholics use birth control, and are taking increasingly liberal views toward fertility issues, including women's control of their bodies. In a statement reeking with hypocrisy, the Bishop of East Anglia said “The world needs Amnesty International. It has touched the lives of countless numbers of people across the world who have been wrongly imprisoned for their beliefs or subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. Long may it do so - hopefully with the active support of Catholics worldwide but this will be seriously threatened should Amnesty adopt a policy supporting the right to abortion.” That he can praise Amnesty while threatening to undermine its work, all for the sake of unborn fetuses, is far beyond the immorality that he and his colleagues accuse the organization of. Perhaps, as Catholic congregations continue to shrink, churches close, and fewer young men see the priesthood as a glorious vocation, the Church's leaders will eventually recognize that the world has left them and their destructive history behind. The Vatican will become one of the world's great museums, and its remaing residents will find vocations as tour guides. In the meantime, thinking people will resist its regressive and inhumane policies.