Today's CBC News gives us the story of Pope John Paul II canonizing 6 new saints.
It puzzles the hell out of me that this man has canonized more saints (480) than all of his predecessors combined....that's almost 2000 years of previous popes! Is this not supposed to be a difficult process? Or is the Pope simply trying to fill up heaven (and the Catholic calendar) with all those who share his very right-wing, Opus Dei views of Christianity?
But the following point -- about new saint Gianna Molla -- really set my teeth on edge:
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She died in 1962 at the age 39, one week after giving birth to her fourth child. Molla had refused treatment that would have saved her life, but would have involved terminating her pregnancy.
Close to her third month of pregnancy, she was diagnosed with a serious fibroma in the uterus. Doctors told her it was dangerous to proceed with her pregnancy because of the cancerous tumour, but she insisted on carrying the baby to term.
"This holy family mother was heroically faithful to the commitment she undertook on the day of her marriage," the Pope said.
He praised her "extreme sacrifice" and called her an example to be followed by Catholics.
"May our times rediscover through the example of Gianna Beretta Molla," the Pope said, "the pure, chaste and fertile beauty of conjugal love, lived as a response to the divine calling."
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What is this man saying? Women should willing sacrifice their lives for their unborn children, because their own lives are secondary? How the hell is this an example of the "pure, chaste and fertile beauty of conjugal love"? I swear to God (and I hope he's listening), this obsession with the blood-sacrifice aspect of religion has got to stop. This is about as primitive and feral as civilization can get...and he's celebrating it!
When is the Church going to drag itself out of the Middle Ages? This kind of message is certainly going to affect the innocent members of the faith...the ones who blindly follow the teachings of a human who claims infalibility just because one of his predecessors granted himself the label!
Well, here's one person who thinks Gianna Molla should have saved herself. She could have offered the world many other gifts, I have no doubt. There are enough true martyrs in the world without people like her...good people who didn't deserve to die. It's not that I don't respect her choice...but I believe, because of her faith, the choice was fixed from the moment she had to make it.
I love my life, and it's not something I believe should be given up without a fight, nor without considerable thought. That's why I don't understand Islamic suicide bombers...and I don't understand Ms. Molla. They didn't make a rational choice...because faith isn't rational. When faith dictates these choices, it only serves to steal another young, valuable, irreplacable life from this world.
Enough, I say!
