One News Now | September 10, 2008
Associated Press – 9/10/2008 9:35:00 AMBookmark and Share
Two U.S. Catholic bishops say Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden contradicted church teaching by saying that the question of when human life begins is a “personal and private” religious matter.
Sunday, on NBC’s Meet the Press, Senator Biden (D-Delaware) said that as a Catholic he believes life begins at conception, but that it would be inappropriate to impose that view on others in a pluralistic society.
In a statement, Cardinal Justin Rigali and Bishop William Lori said Biden was correct in saying life begins at conception, but added that the church “does not teach this as matter of faith; it acknowledges it as a matter of objective fact.” They also said, “Protection of innocent human life is not an imposition of personal religious conviction but a demand of justice.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) recently angered many bishops and fellow Catholics when she told Meet the Press that the Catholic Church didn’t have a position on when life begins, and that the Catholic Church didn’t oppose abortion.
