Moody Meow

Liberal, lunatic lassie, with mood swings and foot-in-mouth syndrome

Vatican Praises Woman Who Died Rather Than Receive Abortion

Posted on | January 26, 2005 | 7 Comments

POSTED: 8:31 am EST January 26, 2005

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Tuesday praised an Italian woman who died after refusing cancer treatment that would have required her to have an abortion. Rita Fedrizzi was died this week, three months after giving birth to a baby boy.
Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano compared Fedrizzi’s decision to that of an Italian pediatrician Gianna Beretta Molla, who died in 1962 after refusing to end her pregnancy despite warnings that it could kill her. Beretta Molla was made a saint by John Paul II in 2003 and has become a symbol for opponents of abortion. The Roman Catholic Church considers abortion a grave sin.
Fedrizzi, 41, who refused the abortion and cancer treatment, found out she had cancer about the same time she learned she was pregnant, the Vatican paper said.
“She was aware that if she gave birth she wouldn’t have had any hope of surviving,” the Vatican newspaper wrote. “Despite that she went through with her choice, the choice of welcoming new life even at the cost of her own death.”
Besides Federico, born after six months of her pregnancy, she left two children, ages 10 and 12.
“Rita’s choice, which I always shared, was a choice of faith,” her husband, Enrico Ferrari, told the Italian news agency ANSA.
“Whenever someone recommended abortion as the only way to escape (death), she would say, `It’s as if they’re asking me to kill one of my other two children to save my skin.’ She welcomed Federico as a gift, the husband was quoted as saying.
Fedrizzi was buried in Pianello del Lario, near Como, on Tuesday.
RAI state TV said the woman was very active with a Catholic group devoted to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
WFTV.com

* * * *
So, the Vatican is praising a woman who gave birth to a child in spite of her disease, leaving all three children motherless. How can this be right? A choice of faith? How can a truly loving god accept this kind of insanity? What role will the Vatican play in the lives of these children now that they are without maternal guidance?

I understand spirituality. I don’t understand this kind of overwhelming reverence. Perhaps it is a flaw in my way of thinking, but I can’t accept that any diety would require this kind of sacrifice. She has been made a martyr, and I admire her for her strength, but I think what she did was selfish of her and selfish of the Church.

Category: Did I forget to mention?

Comments

7 Responses to “Vatican Praises Woman Who Died Rather Than Receive Abortion”

  1. Nick
    January 26th, 2005 @ 10:51 pm

    Much of my family is included as well Joel.

    My definition of Religion:
    An organized (and successful) method of controlling people, food, money, etc., created by the leaders (priests, kings, scribes) for the leaders.

    Hence my (rude) view.

    The Christian (or Jew/Muslim/Buddhist/Hindu, etc) who goes on a hike and spends the afternoon in prayer, imho, is the ideal Christian.

    The overly devout seem to have found their place in life, and that’s good for them. Everyone needs a purpose. If they decided to go on an extended missionary trip to Mars… I’d be fully supportive.

    As for tithe: haha. Hope you accept Boddington’s

  2. David M
    January 26th, 2005 @ 9:38 pm

    I mean “more moderate”, not moe moderate, though that has a nice, fresh from the ghetto sound to it. :)

  3. David M
    January 26th, 2005 @ 9:36 pm

    Joel, you’ve definitely made some good points. Pro-choice means that you definitely have to deal with the half the people whose choice you don’t agree with. Of course, I really don’t have any problem with people having children, that is again their choice. You are also absolutely right about the difficulty of really understanding her choices. She may have made a very considered and careful decision about how to handle the situation, but knowing how the Catholic Church feels about the procedure, one must wonder. Ultimately, it was a decision that she made, apparently with her husband, and it should have stayed that way. As with humanity there are always going to be good and bad in every religion. I really don’t think that everyone that follows a religion is an A-hole, but I think that sometimes we allow some very old, and possibly outdated dogmas to guide us in decisions in the modern world. As usual it’s the extreme ends of the spectrum that we always notice, missing the moe moderate and thoughtful followers of a faith.

    Oh, and my spelling is horrible, I apologize for that. Though my misspelling is kind of funny.

  4. Joel
    January 26th, 2005 @ 9:22 pm

    I don’t see her as being selfish. She could have had the treatment, lost the fetus, and died from the cancer anyway. I guess then there would be just two motherless children, but that’s not much more comforting to me. I see a certain nobility in her allowing the circle of life to continue, passing on her genes to the next generation, just like Darwin said we do.

    And yes, she saddled her husband and family with the task of raising the three kids. Of course, it sounds like at least he was on board with the plan, so that’s okay with me.

    What’s key here is that she made a *choice*. That’s the tough part about being pro-choice. It automatically means you are not going to agree with half the people out there, but ultimately you have to accept them. Contrast that with the pro-lifers who want things one way only: their way.

    Let’s keep peeling this onion back a few more layers. Did she really make a choice? Was she simply following the teachings of Cathol? Was she brainwashed by priests into thinking her way was the only way? Is that then really a choice?

    (I really shouldn’t judge without knowing more, but whenever you hear a reference to a subset of a faith (i.e. “a Catholic group devoted to Mary, the mother of Jesus”), you’re starting to get into cult territory. I digress.)

    Naturally, I think the Catholic Church is wrong for capitalizing on the situation, but the Internet isn’t big enough to hold all of my criticism of the RCC. (Buy me a drink and get me started. You’ll regret it.)

    David: Not to pick on your spelling, but you meant “altar boy”. The good news is, you inadvertantly made another joke. You could call your recent procedure an “alter boy” procedure.

    Nick: Setting aside the fact that you just called 95% of my family “assholes” (it’s closer to 80% and all on Dad’s side), I have to tell you that it’s not enough to just call these people names. Overly devout followers of any faith need our compassion and guidance. And just as soon as I figure out a way to talk enough like-minded people into tithing 10% of their income to me, I’ll be able to fund some missionary work to spread our beliefs. Where would you like to go?

  5. Nick
    January 26th, 2005 @ 12:30 pm

    Slowly I’m realizing all religious people are assholes. Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu… all assholes. The people, the leaders, from top to bottom, all assholes. It’s all a cover for human selfishness and hypocrisy. All assholes.

    When there is plague and famine because of overpopulation, which WILL happen, the church will be playing a very different tune…

    Streaming video for BBC show, “The Power of Nightmares” (terrorism, Islamic fundamentalists, etc)
    http://207.44.245.159/video1037.htm

  6. David M
    January 26th, 2005 @ 12:24 pm

    Ok, bad joke. Her choice was incredibly selfish, as is the church’s position on this. I don’t think any god that created people with the ability to think freely would want them to give up that free thought. Christian chuches have been rediculously hypocritical about this shit. It is immoral to have an abortion, but damn once you are out of the womb, you’re toast…you can be abused and killed with no real problems from the church. Hallelujah! For example, if you are protecting life, then how are you able to draw a line between abortion and the death penalty?

    I won’t even mention the Crusades….uhh I mean the war in Iraq.

  7. David M
    January 26th, 2005 @ 12:17 pm

    Alter boys?

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