Polish Catholic archbishop urges European Parliament to reject abortion report

The Celebrate Life Day rally was organized to commemorate the first anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Supreme Court decision. / Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 11, 2023 / 07:00 am (CNA).

This week state Supreme Courts in Arizona, Wyoming, and New Mexico will hear oral arguments for litigation related to the states’ abortion laws. In all three cases, the pro-life side will be argued by lawyers at the conservative Alliance Defending Freedom. 

Arizona: Defending life from the moment of conception

The Arizona Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday, Dec. 12, on whether prosecutors can enforce the state’s pre-Roe v. Wade abortion laws, which prohibited most abortions at the moment of conception.

Arizona’s prohibition was declared unconstitutional shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion nationwide. Despite the law being unenforceable for about 50 years, the state Legislature never repealed the law and the prohibition is still technically written into the state code.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich requested that the 50-year-old injunction that blocked the enforcement of the law be lifted.

The law in question prohibits both chemical and surgical abortions in every case, except when it is necessary to save the life of the mother. There are no criminal penalties on the books for the mother who procures an abortion, but anyone who “provides, supplies, or administers” drugs or other substances, or “employs any instrument or other means whatever, with the intent thereby to procure the miscarriage” is subject to a prison sentence between two and five years.

Following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, the Arizona Legislature passed a bill to prohibit abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. This is the threshold that is currently enforced in Arizona.

Wyoming: Lawmakers try to defend state’s pro-life laws

The Wyoming Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday, Dec. 12, on whether two state lawmakers and a pro-life organization have standing to intervene in a lawsuit about the state’s pro-life laws, which are currently held up in the court system. 

State Reps. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams and Chip Neiman, along with Right to Life of Wyoming, are appealing a trial court decision that blocked them from intervening in a lawsuit that challenges the Life Is a Human Right Act, which prohibits chemical and surgical abortions in most circumstances. 

A district court judge blocked the enforcement of the law in March of this year.

The lawmakers and the pro-life organization argue that they have standing to defend the state law because they “have abiding interests in protecting women and unborn children.”

Abortion is currently legal up to the point of viability in Wyoming. 

New Mexico: County asks court not to recognize a constitutional right to abortion

The New Mexico Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday, Dec. 13, on whether the state constitution protects a right to abortion after state Attorney General Raúl Torrez petitioned the court to strike down local pro-life ordinances in a handful of cities and counties. 

In his petition, Torrez asked the court to find a constitutional right to abortion within the New Mexico Constitution and declare the ordinances unconstitutional. There is no explicit right to “abortion” mentioned anywhere in the state constitution, but the attorney general claimed that abortion rights are implied in several sections of the state constitution. 

Roosevelt County is asking the Wyoming Supreme Court to find that there is not a constitutional right to abortion. The county is asking the court to allow its ordinance, which bans the shipment of abortion materials by mail, to remain in effect.

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Bishop Joseph Strickland, who was removed as the leader of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, by Pope Francis on Nov. 11, 2023, leads the recitation of the rosary outside the site of the U.S. bishops’ fall assembly in Baltimore on Nov. 14, 2023. / Credit: Shannon Mullen/CNA

Baltimore, Md., Nov 14, 2023 / 18:20 pm (CNA).

Bishop Joseph Strickland didn’t join his fellow U.S. bishops at their annual fall assembly on Tuesday, but he wasn’t far away, leading the recitation of the rosary for a few dozen people outside the waterfront hotel where the bishops’ meeting was taking place without him.

“I figured since I’m in town and didn’t have to go to the meeting, I’d just come here and pray,” Strickland told CNA in a brief interview.

Strickland’s appearance came just three days after Pope Francis removed the 65-year-old prelate as the head of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.

Strickland remains an American bishop, however, and there is nothing in the statutes of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) that would prevent him from participating in this week’s assembly.

In a five-minute interview outside the hotel, Strickland claimed that the papal nuncio to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre, asked him not to participate. Pierre, who addressed the bishops Tuesday morning, declined CNA’s interview request Tuesday.

Strickland showed up outside the meeting anyway, he said, because he “already had plans to be here.” He told CNA that he also had committed to leading a rosary outside the meeting. He has led a rosary outside the USCCB meeting in past years as well.

Strickland led the rosary while kneeling. A man kneeling and praying nearby held a sign that read, “We love Bishop Strickland.”

“Today is a day for living the Lord more fully. And so that’s what we are called to do. And that’s what I would encourage the bishops to just keep refocusing on. I have to, every day when I wake up, remember, what’s this about? It’s about following Jesus Christ,” Strickland told CNA. 

“And today is a new day to follow him with joy and hope. His light is as bright as ever. We need to all remember that, and especially my brother bishops,” he said.

Strickland said that he may attend future USCCB meetings, but he thought it best not to do it this year, explaining, “I didn’t want to be a distraction.”

Why was Strickland removed?

Strickland told CNA that when he was notified about his removal, he received an email “with an attachment of the letter that said the Holy Father had … relieved me of the responsibilities as bishop of Tyler.”

Strickland’s removal on Nov. 11 follows a formal investigation of him and his diocese ordered by Pope Francis that occurred in June.

An official report of that investigation was never published, nor has the Vatican disclosed why Strickland was removed from office.

“I really can’t look to any reason except I’ve threatened some of the powers that be with the truth of the Gospel,” Strickland said in an interview with LifeSiteNews following his removal.

Strickland served as bishop of Tyler since 2012 and has been fiercely outspoken on certain Catholic social issues such as abortion and gender ideology. The firebrand bishop has gained a sizable social media following, where he has railed against the political agendas of elected officials who blatantly disregard the sanctity of the unborn.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, of which the Tyler Diocese is a suffragan, said following Strickland’s removal that the investigation focused on “all aspects of the governance and leadership” in the diocese, which ultimately concluded with a recommendation being made to Pope Francis that “the continuation in office of Bishop Strickland was not feasible.”

Speaking to CNA, Strickland didn’t provide any details about what administrative issues may have contributed to his ouster.

“Yeah, there are allegations, but we had the bishop’s appeal that was $3.1 million, larger than ever in the history of the diocese,” he said.

Strickland also touted the number of the diocese’s seminarians — 21 — now in formation, as well as “a presbyterate with great priests.”

“So yeah, you can make allegations of anything. But I think if you just look at the record of the diocese, it’s grown. People are moving in. It’s a happy place. It’s not perfect. It’s not heaven, but it’s in good shape,” he said.

Asked if any reasons were given for his removal, Strickland said that there were “verbal reasons” given by Pierre that were “quite extensive,” one of which was that he was too outspoken.

One notable example is a May 12 tweet in which he suggested that Pope Francis was “undermining the deposit of faith.”

“There were things that, yes, I did. I’ve raised a lot of questions. I’ve tried my best to guard the deposit of faith. And, you know, I feel the same commitment,” he said.

“Some say maybe I’ve spoken up too much, but how can we speak too much for the truth of Christ? It’s a treasure. It’s a beautiful light that the world desperately needs.”

Another reason he was given was “the fact that I didn’t shut down the Latin Mass in my diocese because, you know, I felt as a shepherd, I couldn’t do that,” he said, referring to the restrictions Pope Francis imposed on the old liturgy in his July 2021 motu proprio Traditionis Custodes.

Strickland said that the document “wasn’t really clear” and could be debated upon but added that “many bishops haven’t shut down the Latin Mass in their diocese.”

Ultimately, his removal was the result of “an accumulation of things,” he said, adding that he’s “committed to Jesus Christ” and loves the Church.

“I love every aspect of the Church, but I think we’d all agree the Church needs to be stronger in Christ, and that’s what I’ve encouraged through all of this. My prayer is that every bishop, every faithful Catholic, can be drawn closer to the Sacred Heart of Christ,” he said.

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Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun departs the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, Nov. 18, 2014. / Bohumil Petrik/CNA.

Vatican City, May 11, 2022 / 09:11 am (CNA).
The Vatican said on Wednesday that it was concerned to hear of reports of the arr… […]