NewsAbortion, Catholic Church, Politics - World
Thu Feb 25, 2016 - 7:20 pm EST
Pope calls Italy’s foremost abortion promoter one of nation’s ‘forgotten greats’
February 25, 2016 (LifeSiteNews)
-- In a February 8 interview with one of Italy’s most prominent
dailies, Corriere Della Serra, Pope Francis praised Italy’s leading
proponent of abortion – Emma Bonino -- as one of the nation’s “forgotten
greats,” comparing her to great historical figures such as Konrad
Adenauer and Robert Schuman. Knowing that his praise of her may be
controversial, the Pope said that she offered the best advice to Italy
on learning about Africa, and admitted she thinks differently from us.
“True, but never mind,” he said. “We have to look at people, at what
they do.”
At
27, Bonino had an illegal abortion and then worked with the Information
Centre on Sterilization and Abortion which boasted over 10,000
abortions. There are famous photos of Bonino performing illegal
abortions using a homemade device operated by a bicycle pump. Arrested
for the then-illegal activity she spent a few days in jail and was
acquitted and entered politics.
When
she was appointed Italy’s foreign minister in 2013 there was a general
outcry from life and family leaders at the appalling situation.
Responding
to the Pope’s praise of Bonino, pro-life leaders in Italy expressed
disbelief. “How can the pope praise a woman that is best known in Italy
for practicing illegal abortion and promoting abortion?” commented
Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, who was until last year the head of the Rome
office of Human Life International.
Luca
Volonte, an Italian politician and the president of the pro-life Novae
Terrae Foundation, told LifeSiteNews he believed the Pope “was not
really informed about how much Mrs. Bonino has done in Italy and at the
international level to promote abortion and euthanasia.” Even though he
admits “she did well in Egypt,” he adds that even there “she promoted
her anti-life values.” The Pope, said Volonte, “was wrong and worse
were the members of His secretariat for not informing him.”
The
Pope’s possible ignorance of Bonino’s stance is unlikely given his
justifications in the interview. She has been for decades the most
prominent supporter of abortion in Italy. Moreover, the Pope already
received criticism for his contact with Bonino in 2015 when he called
her about her cancer and invited her to the Vatican.
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