The readers of this blog seem to be more interested in abortion than education. More commented on the indirect reference I had to abortion in my last blog than to the main topic of whether education should be value free or not.
Language does matter
I found the comment by Joseph Camilleri of particular interest. He reacted to TG Curmi in the following way: “Let me re-phrase your question. If a human life is ended, does it really make a difference whether we call it murder, or manslaughter, or accidental killing, or killing in self-defence, or killing in war, or martyrdom, or suicide, or assisted suicide, or passive euthanasia or active euthanasia? Of course it does. The wealth of language is necessary to reflect the subtleties of human thought and the complexity of the human experience. Devalue language and you devalue the human being.”
I totally agree. I think that part of the confusion we are living in is the result of the constant misuse of language. I suspect that the glorification of images in our culture led to what Jacques Ellul very ably described in one of his fantastic books as the “humiliation of the word.” Words are to-day bandied around as if they have no exact and specific meaning. When I protest at this attitude, I am generally met with the retort: “Insomma int fhimt x’ridt nghid.”
Abortion not a murder
Let me return to abortion. It is an abomination. However, can we call it murder?
On December 14, 2008 in my contribution to The Sunday Times I had referred to the controversy on this subject some years back between L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, and Cardinal Mario Pompedda, the retired head of the Apostolic Signature, the Vatican's Supreme Court. L'Osservatore Romano said that use of the abortive pill RU-486 was "really and truly murder." Cardinal Pompedda said that the church was right to condemn all forms of abortion, but he said he would not call abortion "murder," because of respect for language.
"Murder refers to man, while here the reference is to the embryo. Law and morality have always distinguished between murder, infanticide and abortion. Should we suddenly erase this distinction?" he said. Pompedda said he thought the church could fully defend the human embryo's right to life without artificially dramatizing the differences with those who think differently.
"I've also heard the killing of embryos compared with the Shoah. But I would invite people to use more moderate language. Isn't it enough to say 'abortion'?" he said.
Abortion: a deep wound not a right
Pope Benedict during his visit to Austria in September 2007 while addressing the members of government and diplomatic in the reception hall of Vienna's Hofburg Palace, the seat of the Austrian presidency, described abortion as a "deep wound" in society and as the antithesis of human rights.
On the first day of that visit the Pope called for the defence of human rights: "The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself. "This is true of life from the moment of conception until its natural end. Abortion, consequently, cannot be a human right -- it is the very opposite."
Benedict XVI continued: "In stating this, I am not expressing a specifically ecclesial concern. Rather, I am acting as advocate for a profoundly human need, speaking out on behalf of those unborn children who have no voice.”
The Pope was reacting to attempts that are made, from time to time, especially in the United Nation to consider abortion as a basic human right! On the occasion of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for example, the London-based abortion advocacy group, Marie Stopes International, petitioned the U.N. members to declare abortion as a universal human right. Their petition said that it was "intolerable that millions of women continue to suffer severe injuries and trauma, and more than 66,000 die needlessly each year from abortions that are procured unsafely from unskilled providers or self-induced, almost all in developing countries."
They refer to safe abortion. I guess all aborted foetuses know how safe abortion is!
Be compassionate
The Pope said more on that occasion.
"I do not close my eyes to the difficulties and the conflicts which many women are experiencing, and I realize that the credibility of what we say also depends on what the Church herself is doing to help women in trouble."
Archbishop Fisichella also showed the same compassionate attitude expressed here by the Pope when the case of the Brazilian 8 year old girls was made public. (See my blog called: Hug her not excommunicate her.) Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte of Montreal showed his pastoral concern during an interview with the Canadian daily Le Devoir. Cardinal Turcotte said that Brazilian Church leaders had been "clumsy" in their public comments, and argued that a more pastoral approach was necessary. "Personally I am against abortion," he said, "but I can understand that in some cases, one almost has no other choice."
The Church has to be present and help those people who feel that they have no other choice. On the other hand, the Church should continue to be the conscience of nations and people in its never-ending campaign in favour of a pro-life culture. According to the Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html) the number of abortions carried per year is 42 million. There is no doubt that most of them are not carried in tragic circumstances but because a pro-death culture has been nourished and made to grow. We should resist this culture.