An unnamed child with a rare congenital birth defect called esophageal atresia is seen in Damascus Countryside Specialized Hospital in Douma, Syria, Oct. 11, 2017. (CNS photo/Mohammed Badra, EPA)

Pope: Aborting children with birth defects is like Nazi eugenics program

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis denounced the practice of administering prenatal tests to determine birth defects that often lead to abortions, comparing it to the Nazi-era eugenics program that determined what lives were worth keeping or eliminating.

Children are God’s greatest gift and should be welcomed “as they come, as God sends them, as God allows, even if at times they are sick,” the pope said June 16 during a meeting with members of Italian family associations.

“I have heard that it is fashionable — or at least common — to do certain examinations in the first months of pregnancy to see if baby is not well or has some kind of problem. The first proposal in that case is, ‘Should we get rid of (the baby)?’ The killing of children. And to have a more tranquil life, an innocent is done away with,” he said departing from his prepared speech.

The pope recalled, as a boy, being taught in school about the Spartans, who “when a boy or girl was born with malformations, they would take them to the top of the mountain and throw them over to protect the ‘purity of the race.'”

Despite the atrocious nature of that practice, he continued, the practice of eugenics continues today “because the protocol of many doctors — many, not all — is to ask, ‘Is something wrong (with the child)?'”

The term “eugenics” was coined in the 1880s by Francis Galton, a half-cousin of Charles Darwin, and the concept centered on the belief that the human race needed to be protected from those deemed “unfit” or “feeble-minded.”

Most notably, the idea rose to prominence in Nazi Germany with the passing of the Eugenic Sterilization Law in 1933, which ordered doctors to sterilize anyone suspected of suffering from hereditary disease.

The policy is believed to have been the precursor to the Nazi’s “Final Solution,” resulting in the genocide of an estimated 6 million European Jews.

“I say it with pain. In the last century, the whole world was scandalized by what the Nazis did to protect the purity of the race. Today, we do the same, only with white gloves,” the pope said.

Pope Francis also highlighted the importance of marriage preparation to strengthen couples and the need for a “catechumenate for marriage, just as there is a catechumenate for baptism.”

Marriage and having a family, he added, is “a beautiful adventure” and a gift from God that is “sometimes treated as if it were a lottery.”

Some people say: “‘Let’s do it. If it goes well, it goes well. If not, we’ll erase everything and try it again.’ This is superficiality on the greatest gift that God has given to all of humanity: the family,” the pope said.

Although today’s world there exist “diversified” families, he added, the “human family in the image of God, man and woman, is the only one.”

“It is the only one. A man and a woman can be nonbelievers. But if they love each other and unite in marriage, they are in the image of God, even if they don’t believe,” Pope Francis said.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Poor people from the Amazon have shown that God's creation must be treated "not as a resource to be exploited but as a home to be preserved, with trust in God," Pope Francis said. He celebrated Mass Oct. 27 to mark the end of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, which brought together bishops, priests and religious, and lay men and women, including indigenous people, from the nine Amazonian countries. Synod participants, some wearing their native dress and feathered headdresses, led the procession into St. Peter's Basilica. During the offertory, an indigenous woman presented the pope with a plant. Their presence was a reminder of the pope's rebuke to a bishop who had made a derogatory comment about an indigenous man wearing his headdress at the synod's opening Mass on Oct. 6. Instead of using a crosier made of precious metals, the pope carried a carved wooden crosier that the Vatican said was a gift from the synod. During the assembly, participants described the environmental devastation and social problems caused by mining in the Amazon. Pope Francis' homily about the Gospel parable of the self-righteous Pharisee and the tax collector drew parallels to the situation in the Amazon. It also appeared to address critics who have called the synod heretical. The Pharisee was "the most pious and devout figure of the time, and the tax collector, the public sinner par excellence," Pope Francis said. But in Jesus' eyes, "the one who is good but presumptuous fails; the one who is a disaster but humble is exalted by God." The Pharisee "stands in the temple of God, but he practices another religion, the religion of 'I,' and many popular groups, Christian and Catholic, follow this path," Pope Francis said. "The drama of this man is that he is without love." In contrast, the tax collector's prayer for mercy "is born from the heart," the pope said. "To pray is to stand before God’s eyes, without illusions, excuses or justifications." Everyone is both Pharisee and tax collector, the pope said. "We are a bit tax collectors because we are sinners, and a bit Pharisees because we are … masters of the art of self-justification." The Pharisee's attitude is apparent in "those who are prominent" considering others to be "backward and of little worth, despise their traditions, erase their history, occupy their lands, and usurp their goods," he added. The pope's words echoed the accounts of indigenous observers at the synod, who described a history of plundering of timber, rubber, minerals and other natural resources in the Amazon. That rapaciousness has displaced people from their land and spurred violence, including human trafficking and the murder of people who try to defend their territories. "In this synod we have had the grace of listening to the voices of the poor and reflecting on the precariousness of their lives," Pope Francis said. The "scarred face of the Amazon region," he said, shows that past experience has not been enough "to stop the plundering of other persons and the inflicting of wounds on our brothers and sisters and on our sister earth." The pope's language throughout the synod has echoed the words of his namesake, St. Francis, who praised God through his brothers, wind and air, and his sister, Mother Earth. Nevertheless, the gathering was sharply criticized by some Catholic groups that claimed it was heretical. The critics, who were active on social media during the synod, also claimed that a carved image of a pregnant indigenous woman that was used during some prayer services was a pagan idol. Pope Francis urged his listeners to reflect on "whether we, too, may think that someone is inferior and can be tossed aside, even if only in our words." "Self-worship carries on hypocritically with its rites and 'prayers,'" the pope said, adding that many people who fall into self-worship "profess to be Catholics, but have forgotten to be Christians and human beings, forgetting the true worship of God, which is always expressed in love of one's neighbor." Calling the poor "the gatekeepers of heaven," he said, "they were not considered bosses in this life. They did not put themselves ahead of others. They had their wealth in God alone. These persons are living icons of Christian prophecy." The pope paused during his homily to acknowledge the presence of "the poorest people of our most developed societies, the sick from the L'Arche Community," who were seated in the front rows in the basilica. He encouraged his listeners to "associate with the poor, to remind ourselves that we are poor, to remind ourselves that the salvation of God operates only in an atmosphere of interior poverty." "Let us pray for the grace to be able to listen to the cry of the poor," Pope Francis said. "This is the cry of hope of the church."

Christians must shun self-worship, pope says at synod’s final Mass

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Poor people from the Amazon have shown that God’s creation must be treated “not as a…