The Roman Catholic Church is a leader in the pro-life movement, with outlined teachings against abortion. Thus, we should reasonably expect that the Church would require its leaders to be uphold pro-life beliefs. How else can we expect the faithful within the Church to follow teachings if they are hearing a confusing message?
Fr. Juan Masiá is a priest and a member with the Society of Jesus. He also is a professor of Bioethics in the faculty of Theology at the University of Sophia and the University of Bunkyo, which is in Tokyo. He has also been a Theologian Consultant for the Association of Catholic Doctors of Japan and a professor in the Pontifical University of Comillas, Madrid.
Fr. Masiá certainly has a platform for communicating his positions. Considering he is a Jesuit priest and has been affiliated by various Catholic organizations, one would hope and expect that he would not publish views which conflict with the Church, confuse members, and create scandal. Unfortunately, Fr. Masiá has used his platform to do just that.
The latest from Fr. Masiá, to be fair, is not coming out in support of abortion in all circumstances. He is speaking to one of the “hard cases” which surrounds babies with fetal abnormalities. It is not only necessary for a pro-life individual to be consistent with their position, but especially an individual who leads and writes to faithful Catholic laypeople.
Sofia Vazquez-Mellado with LifeSiteNews.com reports that Fr. Masiá published an article in the Spanish newspaper, El Pais, in which Masiá says there may be instances “in which it’s irresponsible not to interrupt a pregnancy, before it’s too late to do it without it being unfair to the fetus.”Vazquez-Mellado also reports:
According to Fr. Masiá, “There are cases in which the decision to interrupt a pregnancy is made precisely to avoid an abortion.” Specifically, he cited the case of “severe malformation,” when the abortion is performed early in pregnancy.
What exactly does Fr. Masiá think is “unfair to the fetus[?]” It is particularly shocking that a Jesuit priest would make such comments, but it is worth considering such a statement regardless of who is making it.
The Catholic Church and pro-lifers of all or no faith alike can agree on the dignity of human life. Despite how difficult life may be for a disabled individual or for his or her caregivers, such person have equal dignity, and thus the equal right to life.
Masiá’s referencing these “cases in which the decision to interrupt a pregnancy is made precisely to avoid an abortion” does not actually make all that much sense. Regardless as to when an abortion is performed, it still causes the death of a child. And for anyone. , religious leader or layperson, who thinks that abortion may be the fair option to the child, must not understand how abortions are performed. Death by abortion is torturous, and could hardly be described as humane. One would expect such a learned man as Fr. Masiá to know how abortions are performed though.
The piece from LifeSiteNews.com mentions that Fr. Masiá has made even more shocking and offensive comments:
This is not the first time Fr. Masiá has spoken publicly in favor of abortion. In 2012 he published an opinion article, also in El País, under the title “Abortion and newborn life with malformations,” in which he declared: “the abortion of an anencephalic (baby) is not the abortion of a human being.”
He urged readers to “respect the responsible and conscientious decision that the person made after evaluating alternatives, and chose the least harm.”
“If we don’t morally condemn it, we also won’t accept for it to be legally penalized,” he concluded in that article.
He certainly is not one who follows or understands the all inclusive idea of human dignity. How could one suggest that a disabled baby is not a human being who is aborted? It’s not just about “respect [for]… that person [who]… chose the least harm.” It’s suggests a misunderstanding of science to use such criteria for what constitutes a human being.
There are rarely true moral absolutes, but one of the few is that abortion is murder and abortion kills a human person. It has been time for the Church to strengthen consistency with its position and ensure that others follow teachings.
This is not only for the good of the Church’s image, but for the good of the faithful. It may be not so surprising for an individual to make exceptions for abortion in the case of fetal abnormalities. Such a lack of a sense of decorum is still saddening. But that a Jesuit priest and professor is making such comments, and has made numerous comments on abortion, is going too far.
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