US Roman Catholic bishop calls Mandela’s support for abortion “shameful”

OneNewsNow.com reports, “The Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence, R.I., says that while there’s much to admire in Nelson Mandela’s life and public service, the former South African president’s support for abortion was ‘shameful.'”

Bishop Thomas Tobin, in a statement posted Sunday on the diocesan website, criticized Mandela’s decision in 1996 to sign legislation liberalizing South Africa’s abortion laws. Tobin wrote, “We can only regret that his noble defense of human dignity did not include the youngest members of our human family, unborn children.”

Tobin’s comments stand in contrast to those of Pope Francis, who in a telegram to South African President Jacob Zuma last week praised Mandela’s steadfast commitment to “promoting the human dignity of all” his nation’s citizens. Tobin has frequently taken on public figures over abortion, including Pope Francis. The bishop in September said he was “a little bit disappointed” the pope had not addressed the topic of abortion during his first six months as pope.

Steve Ertelt of LifeNews.com reported, “Pope Francis told a pro-life group in Rome, over the weekend, that a ‘throwaway culture’ is responsible for abortion that results in the destruction of unborn children.”

“This false model of man and society embodies a practical atheism, de facto negating the Word of God that says: ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness,’” Pope Francis explained.

The Pope said “[T]here is an originary dignity of every man and woman that cannot be suppressed, that cannot be touched by any power or ideology.”

Here is Pope Francis’ address to a delegation from the Dignitatis Humanae Institute.