The Republic of San Marino voted Sunday to legalize abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy.
The referendum vote on Sept. 26 ended the country’s ban on abortion, which had been in place since 1865.
More than 77% of voters approved the motion to allow abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy, as well as after the 12-week mark if there are “are anomalies and malformations of the fetus that involve a serious risk for the physical or psychological health of the woman.”
San Marino is a republic with a population of 35,000 people — a third of which live outside of its borders. The tiny nation’s birth rate is about 1.2 children per woman.
The bishop of San Marino released a statement on Sept. 26 saying that pregnant women must be supported so that “no stone is left unturned in seeking alternatives” to abortion.
“We must ensure that never again does a life not blossom because of insecurity, distrust, loneliness, lack of custody and protection or for economic reasons,” Bishop Andrea Turazzi said.
“Today, with the progress of science, with the means at our disposal, with the growth of social consciousness, we can do so much to welcome unborn life,” the bishop of San Marino-Montefeltro said.
“The growth rate of a society, we believe, is not measured so much by economics, but by respect for the rights of all, starting with the fragile, defenseless and unborn.”
According to tradition, a Christian named Marinus established a Christian community in the fourth century that eventually became the city-state of San Marino.
Italy, which geographically surrounds San Marino, legalized abortion in 1978. Other majority Catholic countries, notably Ireland, have liberalized their abortion laws in recent years by referendum.
The people of Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, voted in a referendum in June to approve a bill legalizing abortion.
Following the vote, Bishop Turazzi said that the diocese of San Marino would commit itself to “witness to the Gospel of life, for a culture and a policy favorable to the family, for a boost of awareness and responsibility.”
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The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, the cathedral of the Archdiocese of the Mother of God at Moscow. / Kirasinkir via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Rome Newsroom, Feb 25, 2022 / 04:00 am (CNA).
The Catholic bishops’ conference of … […]
Pope Francis presides at the Vatican’s chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Vatican City, Mar 28, 2024 / 09:30 am (CNA).
On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis presided over a chrism Mass at which more than 1,880 priests, bishops, and cardinals renewed the promises made at their ordinations.
Pope Francis encouraged the priests to turn their gaze upon the crucified Lord and to weep over their sins in repentance, saying that tears can “purify and heal the heart.”
“Once we recognize our sin, our hearts can be opened to the working of the Holy Spirit, the source of living water that wells up within us and brings tears to our eyes,” Francis said on March 28.
Pope Francis speaks at the Vatican’s chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
“The Lord seeks, especially in those consecrated to him, men and women who weep for the sins of the Church and the world and become intercessors on behalf of all,” he added.
Forty-two cardinals, 42 bishops, and 1,800 priests living in Rome concelebrated the Mass with the pope in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Holy Thursday marks the institution of the Eucharist and institution of the sacrament of the priesthood at the Last Supper. Pope Francis will also preside over a Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Thursday evening at a women’s prison in Rome.
The 87-year-old pope arrived in St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday morning in a wheelchair. Before giving his more than 20-minute homily, the pope took a sip of water and put on his reading glasses.
Pope Francis reflected in his homily on Peter’s tears after denying the Lord three times as recorded in the Gospel of Luke: “Peter remembered the word of the Lord … and went out and wept bitterly.”
Cardinal Angelo De Donatis presides at the altar during the Vatican’s chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
“Dear brother priests, the healing of the heart of Peter, the healing of the apostle, the healing of the pastor, came about when, grief-stricken and repentant, he allowed himself to be forgiven by Jesus. That healing took place amid tears, bitter weeping, and the sorrow that leads to renewed love,” he said.
Compunction
Pope Francis said that he wanted to speak to the priests about the importance of compunction — an awareness of guilt due to sin — which the pope admitted is a “somewhat old-fashioned” term and “an aspect of the spiritual life that has been somewhat neglected, yet remains essential.”
The pope added that compunction “is not a sense of guilt that makes us discouraged or obsessed with our unworthiness, but a beneficial ‘piercing’ that purifies and heals the heart.”
“Compunction demands effort but bestows peace. It is not a source of anxiety but of healing for the soul, since it acts as a balm upon the wounds of sin, preparing us to receive the caress of the heavenly physician, who transforms the ‘broken, contrite heart,’” Pope Francis said.
Clergy assembled at the Vatican’s Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
The pope said that through compunction “the natural tendency to be indulgent with ourselves and inflexible with others is overturned and, by God’s grace, we become strict with ourselves and merciful toward others.”
“Weeping for ourselves … means seriously repenting for saddening God by our sins … It means looking within and repenting of our ingratitude and inconstancy, and acknowledging with sorrow our duplicity, dishonesty, and hypocrisy — clerical hypocrisy, dear brothers, that hypocrisy which we slip into so much — beware of clerical hypocrisy,” Francis said.
“How greatly we need to be set free from harshness and recrimination, selfishness and ambition, rigidity and frustration, in order to entrust ourselves completely to God and to find in him the calm that shields us from the storms raging all around us,” he added.
“Let us pray, intercede, and shed tears for others; in this way, we will allow the Lord to work his miracles. And let us not fear, for he will surely surprise us.”
During the Vatican’s chrism Mass, the pope, as the bishop of Rome, blessed the oil of the sick, the oil of catechumens, and the chrism oil, which will be used in the diocese during the coming year. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis served as the celebrant at the altar.
The oils were processed up the main altar of St. Peter’s in large silver urns as the hymns of the Sistine Chapel Choir filled the basilica.
Urns of oil are displayed at the Vatican’s Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, March 28, 2024. Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Pope Francis prayed over the oil of the sick: “O God, Father of all consolation, who through your Son have willed to heal the infirmities of the sick, listen favorably to this prayer of faith: Send down from heaven, we pray, your Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, upon the rich substance of this oil, which you were pleased to bring forth from vigorous green trees to restore our bodies, so that by your holy blessing this oil may be for anyone who is anointed with it a safeguard for body, mind, and spirit, to take away every pain, every infirmity, and every sickness.”
The blessed oil will be used for the anointing of the sick in Rome throughout the year.
Pope Francis thanked the priests gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica for all they do to bring “the miracle of God’s mercy” to the world today.
“Dear priests, thank you for your open and docile hearts; thank you for your labors and thank you for your tears; thank you because you bring the miracle of mercy … you bring God to the brothers and sisters of our time,” he said. “Dear priests, may the Lord console you, confirm you, and reward you.”
Workers continue to investigate and search for victims after the cargo ship Dali collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge causing it to collapse yesterday, on March 27, 2024, in Baltimore. / Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images
From the largest nations, territorially Russia “Abortion in Russia is legal as an elective procedure up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and in special circumstances at later stages. Russia had the highest number of abortions per woman of child-bearing age in the world according to UN data as of 2010”, China population we all know it enforces abortion. Now to the tiniest San Marino. A mother’s womb once the safest place for a developing infant now ironically the most dangerous. What has changed Mankind? Obviously, the drift from Christ. Although it existed prior to the Incarnation never on this monumental scale. What that spells for the mind to ruminate is the horror of such unmitigated evil far greater after rejection of Christ than before? A differentiating factor that cannot be explained in context of cultural space within historical time. Something mysterious for practical reason. Although not when contemplated within revelation. The reality of a Daemonic creature, Satan, who possesses the morbid energy to seduce minds to believing it’s practical medical care. That Catholics by profession claim a just necessity for better living conditions, as if pregnancy were a disease. Surely it proves a superior intellect has seduced the human mind to believe the life of persons is relative to the welfare of our own.
This is a sad day for humanity, that infanticide, the killing of the weakest and most vulnerable, is not only tolerated, but welcomed with applause and voted on by the populace with overwhelming approval.
From the largest nations, territorially Russia “Abortion in Russia is legal as an elective procedure up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and in special circumstances at later stages. Russia had the highest number of abortions per woman of child-bearing age in the world according to UN data as of 2010”, China population we all know it enforces abortion. Now to the tiniest San Marino. A mother’s womb once the safest place for a developing infant now ironically the most dangerous. What has changed Mankind? Obviously, the drift from Christ. Although it existed prior to the Incarnation never on this monumental scale. What that spells for the mind to ruminate is the horror of such unmitigated evil far greater after rejection of Christ than before? A differentiating factor that cannot be explained in context of cultural space within historical time. Something mysterious for practical reason. Although not when contemplated within revelation. The reality of a Daemonic creature, Satan, who possesses the morbid energy to seduce minds to believing it’s practical medical care. That Catholics by profession claim a just necessity for better living conditions, as if pregnancy were a disease. Surely it proves a superior intellect has seduced the human mind to believe the life of persons is relative to the welfare of our own.
This is a sad day for humanity, that infanticide, the killing of the weakest and most vulnerable, is not only tolerated, but welcomed with applause and voted on by the populace with overwhelming approval.