The Specter of Christianity

These pro-abortion maniacs. Yikes. I wish our bishops were in fact and in deed as pro-life as the people who hate the Catholic Church seem to think they are. The Catholic Church is officially against abortion, of course -- there is no circuitous Jesuitical workaround for "Thou shalt not kill" -- but a great many senior figures in the American church are inclined to impersonate country-club Republicans circa 1992: "Sure, we're against abortion, but let's not make a whole thing about it." Pope Francis may be silly about many things -- and possibly an outright heretic if you want to get mean about it -- but he remains solid on abortion: an "absolute evil," he calls it. And the pews aren't any more reliably pro-life than the pulpit: Catholics have on average about the same attitude toward abortion as other Americans, and the horrifying fact is that even a third of those who attend Mass weekly identify themselves as "pro-choice."