According to a variety of news sources, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, is following in the footsteps of his predecessors when it comes to issues of life.
"Abortion is never a solution," Cardinal Bergoglio said just last year. "We listen, support and understand from our place to save two lives: respect the human being small and helpless, they can take steps to preserve your life, allow birth and then be creative in the search for ways to bring it to its full development.”
As LifeNews.com reports, in a speech given to a gathering of priests and laity on October 2, 2007, Cardinal Borgoglio addressed those people who say they are not in agreement with the death penalty.
" . . . (B)ut 'in Argentina we have the death penalty. A child conceived by the rape of a mentally ill or retarded woman can be condemned to death," he pointed out.
He went on to address Catholic politicians who deny Church teaching while in office.
" . . . (W)e should commit ourselves to ‘eucharistic coherence’, that is, we should be conscious that people cannot receive holy communion and at the same time act or speak against the commandments, in particular when abortion, euthanasia, and other serious crimes against life and family are facilitated," he said. "This responsibility applies particularly to legislators, governors, and health professionals.”
The National Catholic Register, which described Bergoglio as “an unwaveringly orthodox on matters of sexual morality, staunchly opposing abortion, same-sex marriage, and contraception,” highlighted the former cardinal's courage in speaking out on so-called "politically correct" issues.
“In 2010 he asserted that gay adoption is a form of discrimination against children, earning a public rebuke from Argentina’s President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner,” the report said.
Pope Francis is also known to be a big defender of the family. As reported by Matt Abbot of Renew America, in 2010, as the Argentine government was considering a bill allowing same-sex marriages, Cardinal Borgoglio he sent a letter to Carmelite nuns asking for prayer.
"The Argentine people must face, in the next few weeks, a situation whose result may gravely harm the family. It is the bill on matrimony of persons of the same gender," he wrote.
"The identity of the family, and its survival, are in jeopardy here: father, mother, and children. The life of so many children who will be discriminated beforehand due to the lack of human maturity that God willed them to have with a father and a mother is in jeopardy. A clear rejection of the law of God, engraved in our hearts, is in jeopardy. . . .
He added: "Let us not be naive: it is not a simple political struggle; it is an intention [which is] destructive of the plan of God. It is not a mere legislative project (this is a mere instrument), but rather a 'move' of the father of lies who wishes to confuse and deceive the children of God."
These words carried much weight, especially because they came from a man who once visited an Argentine hospice on Holy Thursday and personally washed and kissed the feet of 12 AIDS patients, a disease very much associated with homosexuality.
This appears to be indicative of the man - someone who doesn't just "talk the talk." The humble man known as "Father Jorge" to Argentines, who lives in a small apartment and rides the bus to work everyday, he is a man who is not afraid to "walk the walk."
He visits the poor regularly has created many new parishes, restructured the administrative offices of the Archdiocese, led pro-life initiatives and started new pastoral programs for those living on the margins, such as establishing a commission for divorcees.
Children and the elderly have also received his loving care, according to LifeSiteNews. He once called the abuse of children "demographic terrorism," and scolded Argentines for tolerating their exploitation. "Children are mistreated, and are not educated or fed. Many are made into prostitutes and exploited," he said. "And this happens here in Buenos Aires, in the great city of the south. Child prostitution is offered in some five star hotels: it is included in the entertainment menu, under the heading ‘Other’."
He also denounced what he called the "culture of discarding" in regard to the elderly who are treated as disposable because of their age.
"In Argentina there is clandestine euthanasia. Social services pay up to a certain point; if you pass it, ‘die, you are very old’. Today, elderly people are discarded when, in reality, they are the seat of wisdom of the society," he said, and observed that "the right to life means allowing people to live and not killing, allowing them to grow, to eat, to be educated, to be healed, and to be permitted to die with dignity."
He even stood up for the rights of single mothers. "In our ecclesiastical region there are priests who don't baptize the children of single mothers because they weren't conceived in the sanctity of marriage. These are today's hypocrites," he said. "Those who clericalize the church. Those who separate the people of God from salvation. And this poor girl who, rather than returning the child to sender, had the courage to carry it into the world, must wander from parish to parish so that it's baptized!"
He appears to be more than ready to carry the Gospel into the world, whether it's in-season or out.
"We need to avoid the spiritual sickness of a church that is wrapped up in its own world," he once said. "When a church becomes like this, it grows sick. It is true that going out on to the street implies the risk of accidents happening, as they would to any ordinary man or woman. But if the church stays wrapped up in itself, it will age. And if I had to choose between a wounded church that goes out on to the streets and a sick, withdrawn church, I would definitely choose the first one."
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