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Church excommunicates mother of 9-year-old rape victim – but not accused rapist

Brazil rocked by abortion for raped child

Monday, 9 March 2009

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Declaring that "life must always be protected", a senior Vatican cleric has defended the Catholic Church's decision to excommunicate the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old rape victim who had a life-saving abortion in Brazil.

Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re, who heads the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, told reporters that although the girl fell pregnant after apparently being abused by her stepfather, her twins had, "the right to live, and could not be eliminated".

In an interview with the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, the cardinal added: "It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons. Life must always be protected."

Police believe the girl was sexually assaulted for years by her stepfather, possibly since she was six. That she was four months pregnant with twins emerged only after she was taken to hospital complaining of severe stomach pains.

The controversy represents a PR nightmare for the Vatican. The unnamed girl's mother and doctors were excommunicated for agreeing to Wednesday's emergency abortion yet the Church has not taken formal steps against the stepfather, who is in custody. Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, the conservative regional archbishop for Pernambuco where the girl was rushed to hospital, has said that the man would not be thrown out of the Church, because although he had allegedly committed "a heinous crime", the Church took the view that "the abortion, the elimination of an innocent life, was more serious".

The case has set off fierce debate in Brazil, where abortion is permitted only in cases of rape or a medical emergency. Brazil is one of the most populous Catholic countries, but conservative attitudes in rural areas are strongly at odds with the relatively progressive public view of abortion in major cities.

Even the President, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, has waded into the row. "As a Christian and a Catholic, I deeply regret that a bishop of the Catholic Church has such a conservative attitude," he said "The doctors did what had to be done: save the life of a girl of nine years old. In this case, the medical profession was more right than the Church."

One of the doctors involved in the abortion, Rivaldo Albuquerque, has raised the prospect of public clashes at his local church, telling Globo, the nation's main TV network, that he would keep going to mass there, regardless of the archbishop's order. The young girl at the centre of the case escaped excommunication only because she is still a child in the eyes of Church authorities. The stepfather, who is 23, was arrested last week, apparently trying to escape to another region of the country. Police say he is also suspected of abusing the girl's handicapped 14-year-old sister. He is in protective custody, and if convicted faces up to 15 years in prison.

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24 Comments

This is another case of irresponsible reporting on the part of the press and trying to sensationalise this issue and vilify the Church. If people have done their homework they will come to know that excommunication, or in fact any penal law in the Church, can only be applied to person (baptised catholics) over the age of 16. See The Code of Canon Law (canon 1323, no1). PRESS - please get your facts straight. All the Vatican have done in this matter is to state its perrenial position on the sanctity of human life (from conception to natural death).

However, the accomplises (like the girls parents or doctors who assisted in the case) may have incurred a latae sententiae (ipso facto - by the very act) excommunicated ... therefore, in the case of abortion, excommunication is never imposed by anyone other than by the sinner him/herself (by their very acts).

Posted by alexis | 01.04.09, 16:09 GMT

*The media is making it sound as though the Church didn't even consider the health of the girl. It did. Obviously the abortion doctors are going to say they believed it was in her best interest.*

I'm sorry, I don't think it's ever in a 9 year-old's "best interest" to become the mother of twins, even if she HADN'T been raped by her stepfather.

You're making it sound like the doctors just did the abortion to pi** off the Church, which I'm fairly certain is not the case. Perhaps this girl could have made it thru the pregnancy and delivery alive, but it certainly would have scarred her more than it already did. No child should have to have the responsibility for another life.

I'm not anti-Catholic by any means, but I'm with the people who think that if any of the clergymen handing down these decisions had children of their own, they would be barking a completely different tune.

Posted by Cinnamingirl | 12.03.09, 14:51 GMT

I am horrified. The poor girl.

What a useless Church.

Posted by Liz | 11.03.09, 16:27 GMT

Just to clarify, the Church's official stand on rape and adultery has always been that it's a mortal sin, and those who commit either may not present themselves to receive Holy Communion until they have been absolved of those sins- just as if they had been formally excommunicated.

The rapist is not off the hook. (And what do you want to bet he would have wanted the girl to abort?)

Posted by Valerie | 11.03.09, 14:39 GMT

If men became pregnant, abortions would be legal.

The Catholic church may have excommunicated this mother and doctor, but God alone will judge them and I believe will welcome them. This child has been living in hell and the stepfather deserves nothing less. He will also be judged.

This is just one story...but so many are affected.

Posted by Laura | 11.03.09, 04:17 GMT

This article disgusts me. The stepfather ruinedg the life of a innocent child, and the idiot who commented
"the children could have been born by C-Section and there was no serious risk to the child's life or health" The serious risk had already been done. Open your blind eyes and mind.

Posted by Karen | 10.03.09, 18:04 GMT

I cannot wait until this ridiculous cult is gone once and for all. Lesson for all women - you are not human in the eyes of the church. You are nothing more than a baby-making machine. Another lesson - the church cares more for the rapist/child-molester than it does for a 9 year old girl and the people who probably saved her life.

Posted by Kev | 10.03.09, 18:01 GMT

Women must rise up against the male dominated church. The female in the eyes of the RC church is nothing more than a breeding machine used to produce as many children as possible. The ban on contraception was handed down in the mid 1800's. We can safely assume there were no women at the table.

Posted by ellen | 10.03.09, 16:02 GMT

David - 'Proof at last that there is no God' ?? strange thing to say and quite untrue.

It is however, proof that the Catholic Church is to be condemned and abolished. This is not Christianity in the least. My distrust in the Catholic Church has just been strengthend.

Posted by Pixie | 10.03.09, 15:24 GMT

What is the pope thinking this is a child and was envolved in a terrible situations. Thank God he was never allowed to be a parent .Sometimes I wonder about the people God has chosen to repersent him. All the best to the poor child and her mother.

Posted by Sonya | 10.03.09, 14:07 GMT

"If he was a parent, he change his tune."

If he was a woman, he'd change his tune.

If he were a rape survivor, he'd change his tune.

This is the problem with the hierarchy of the Catholic church. They want to run our lives but do not or have never been the victim of sexual abuse. Until they walk in my shoes, they will not dictate to me on this issue.

Posted by Ginny | 10.03.09, 12:59 GMT

This church has nothing to do with God

Posted by Michael | 10.03.09, 09:20 GMT

Someone should excommunicate the Catholic Church - from all decent, proper Christians. They have as good as condoned rape.

Posted by Donegore | 10.03.09, 09:12 GMT

Sharon: Only a murderer would take the life of two unborn babies, because of someone elses crime against the mother. One crime doesn't justify another against an innocent little life. I'm too am not surprised, but at the depths of human depravity in murdering two babies becaused a third baby had been raped.

Posted by Sean | 10.03.09, 08:10 GMT

How crazy! You sure can see this excommunicator is no parent. The majorty of catholics in the USA whould disagree with him as well as a lot of other things. With thinking like this from the church leadership , no wonder so many are voteing with their feet. If he was a parent, he change his tune.

Posted by phl | 10.03.09, 04:02 GMT

As someone who is in the process of researching the Catholic church for personal fellowship, this story is quite disconcerting. I am appalled by the Catholic church for taking such a stance, and furthermore, we are all God's creations. So if the Catholic church does not want the family, the most important things is that God still does! Those who seek shall surely find! God bless!

Posted by Chelsea | 09.03.09, 23:51 GMT

it is not a glorious victory for the faith. does anyone believe that Jesus would have done other than tell the mother, go in peace and sin no more?

Posted by TMCKE | 09.03.09, 23:01 GMT

Had the mother acquiesced to the Church, there would have been three deaths on the hands of the Catholic Church. I'm proud to call myself an ex-Catholic!

Posted by Theresa | 09.03.09, 20:31 GMT

When is this defense of the indefensible actions of the Church going to stop? No wonder so many just ignore what the Church has to say on reproduction.

Posted by Marg | 09.03.09, 19:55 GMT

Nonsense. The Church didn't excommunicate anyone. The penalty was latae sententiae...the mother incurred it automatically for 'abetting' an abortion. She excommunicated herself.

Posted by O'Donnell | 09.03.09, 16:20 GMT