Aquino to risk Vatican wrath

'Duty to the people' over birth control trumps excommunication fear

Julian Labores, Manila
Philippines
April 18, 2011

Catholic Church News Image of Aquino to risk Vatican wrath

The president addresses graduates from the University of the Philippines, yesterday (Photo: Malacañang Photo Bureau)

President Benigno Aquino said yesterday he is willing to risk excommunication from the Catholic Church rather than scrap the Responsible Parenthood (RP) Bill.

“I remain committed to pushing for the introduction of a law for responsible parenthood…. At risk of excommunication, it is my obligation as a leader,” Aquino told graduates from the University of the Philippines.

“In the end I must listen to my conscience and do what is right,” the president said. He said he cannot stand by and watch the cycle of poverty continue as unplanned births spiral.

The measure being proposed by Aquino faces strong opposition from the Catholic Church because of provisions that allow the use of contraception.

Catholic Church officials earlier called for the scrapping of the Responsible Parenthood Bill and the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill now pending in the Philippine Congress.

Aquino spokesperson, Abigail Valte, said the RP bill will not favor the Church’s stand or the position of those supporting the RH bill.

“There is a need to revise, refocus and educate Filipino couples and provide them with all available information regarding natural and artificial methods of family planning, and for them to consult with the individual religious entities they belong to,” Aquino earlier said.

He said his RP bill has a “lot in common ” with the RH bill, adding it is a “revision” of this proposed legislation.

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Sphonas

What does he know about parenthood & prolife , when he himself does’nt know what he is . May his late mother be his guardian angel , pray for his soul , that he may reconsider what it means to be excommunicated .
http://www.facebook.com/people/Yule-Bernard/100001401204280 Yule Bernard

Your conscience is not God’s voice all the time. Our conscience can be wrong sometimes and that’s why one must be consistent with his faith. Therefore, you must not always follow your conscience. For that reason, developing it is important and that is a life-long process.
kailing

“After receiving baptism, a person is a Roman Catholic forever. This sacred seal can never be removed, even if he or she leaves the Church,”: This theology is too surrealistic. That’s what they are still sudying in Rome? I thought we already have left behind scholasticism. So… Luther died a Roman Catholic, as Calvin. I think they themselves would not agree on that; Christian yes, Catholics no more. And the “sacred seal” thing is not confession directed, but faith, is not a “Roman Catholic seal”, but a Christian one.and 2:
“When we are talking about communion, it is about something spiritual. Excommunication is thus the loss of unity in a spiritual sense, not physical.” Ahem? Is any other kind of unity apart from the spiritual? How is someone physically united to the Church? or to God? Breaking the spiritual unity is breaking apart all that linked you to the church.

And 3:
The comparison with the criminal sentence does not match. Your comparison is what happens when someone commits a grave sin, and then he is sentenced for that (we call it Sacrament of Penance/Reconciliation). What happens to someone who is excommunicated is that he is “taken away” his “identity card” and “passport”. He may call himself a Roman Catholic, but, at all effects, he is no more… You can ask Henry VIII: Catholic yes, but Roman no more.