The Abortion Interdict

Excommunication...

If the Catholic Church goes to this point, I'd expect it to take a harsh stand in non Catholic countries with Catholic populations. Excommunicating officials that refuse to take a strong pro-life position would likely be in the cards--it's less severe than an interdict of an entire nation.

If it did that, I think the backlash would be severe, with a fair number of ellected officials loosing their jobs at the next ellection. LOTS of people would have a distrust of officials that obey a foreign power...
 
Two thoughts:

1) There wouldn't be any interdict on the USA (22% Catholic), but it would have a very curious effect on the Anti-Rights movement here. While many antis are good people with heartfelt beliefs about life beginning at conception, the leaders of the movement tend to be Evangelical Protestants who are out-and-out bigots against anyone different from them. I honestly could see a lot of these people becoming pro-abortion if they thought that being anti- would be playing into the hands of the Evil Papists.

2) The Catholic Church ceases to operate as a mainstream religion in France. Case closed, end of discussion. Violations of Laïcité are not taken lightly.
 
In North America and Europe it goes about as well as efforts to crack down by the Greek Orthodox did in the US and Canada. In short order the Catholic Church is downgraded to a minor cult of no importance.

1. Could you elaborate on that? The Greek situation, I mean.

2. The Catholic Church is the single largest Christian denomination in the United States. If you think such a situation would happen, it would be prudent to explain HOW.
 
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2) The Catholic Church ceases to operate as a mainstream religion in France. Case closed, end of discussion. Violations of Laïcité are not taken lightly.

Could you elaborate? Are you saying the nominally-Catholic French would apostatize en masse or that the French government would crush the Catholic Church in France?
 
Two thoughts:

1) There wouldn't be any interdict on the USA (22% Catholic), but it would have a very curious effect on the Anti-Rights movement here. While many antis are good people with heartfelt beliefs about life beginning at conception, the leaders of the movement tend to be Evangelical Protestants who are out-and-out bigots against anyone different from them. I honestly could see a lot of these people becoming pro-abortion if they thought that being anti- would be playing into the hands of the Evil Papists.


That is not even close to reality.

1. The Pro-life movement in the US is very much a grass roots movement and the leadership is reflective of the rank and file. Their objections to abortion are moral (abortion is the killing of an innocent) or Constitutional (Roe v. Wade is unconstitutional as it elevates to a constitutional right something that is reserved to the states under the 10th amendment) or both.

2. Pro-life Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Evangelicals can and do work together on moral issues. See the Manhattan Declaration which concerns abortion, gay marriage, and religious liberty:

http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/
 
On the main subject of the thread, an Interdict is not in the cards. It would be a public relations disaster which would not achieve the Church's goal and in fact harm it.

The leadership of the RCC are not idiots.
 
Greece is nominally about 98% orthodox ,with no official Church-state separation (like in France), with the Church having adopted an almost ayatollah-style stance on most moral issues since the middle ages. Abortion is legal and there is NO chance in a gazillion of the church doing anything radical about it .
 
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