Morality vs Compassion

Claire Chretien wrote an article for Lifesitenews.com  entilted Here’s why previous popes disagreed with Francis: abortion is greatest of all human rights issues  dated April 9. 2018. [1]  The premise of her article is based on the pope's "devia[tion] from a principle [the pope's] predecessors have taught for centuries: abortion is today’s most pressing and grave human rights abuse." [2]  Her expertly-written analysis is based on the "new apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate ('Rejoice and Be Glad'), wherein [the pope] decried the understanding of migration as an issue 'secondary' to '“grave” bioethical questions.'" [3]  She concluded that "[t]he suggestion that stopping the murder of innocent human babies is just as important as helping the 'situation of migrants' differs from previous papal teachings, in which popes like St. John Paul II asserted that the right to life is the most basic and primary of all." [4]

Claire Chretien's conclusion is flawless using the scales of human morality.  There is no comparison that can be drawn in the murder of the unborn versus the plight of migrants around the world.  An analogy may be appropriate here even though it is not an exact one: the Blessed Virgin Mary and Her spouse Joseph escaped Herod's intent on murdering Jesus by escaping to Egypt. [5]  When this refugee family arrived in Egypt, how ought the Egyptians treat them, morally and leaving them free to fend for themselves, or assisting them with compassion?

The answer is found in the article quoting the pope:  "'the only proper attitude is to stand in the shoes of those brothers and sisters of ours who risk their lives to offer a future to their children. Can we not realize that this is exactly what Jesus demands of us, when he tells us that in welcoming the stranger we welcome him (cf. Mt 25:35)? Saint Benedict did so readily, and though it might have “complicated” the life of his monks, he ordered that all guests who knocked at the monastery door be welcomed “like Christ”, with a gesture of veneration; the poor and pilgrims were to be met with “the greatest care and solicitude”.'" [6]

On the one hand, while is it not immoral or intrinsically evil to go about one's own business without hurting others deliberately, but one who has been given more, spiritually, financially or otherwise is expected to do more, more of what is good which the heart (not the mind) knows innately.

On the other hand, if nobody cares for indigent migrants who could not continue to live without sustenance, is that not analogous to wilful killing should society abandon them?  Can therefore the lack of compassion that leads to death by neglect of the migrants and the poor be equated to death by abortion of those unborn?

Accordingly, even though the mere "existence of poverty" does not rise to the level of the unborn "being pulled apart by an abortionist’s tools" [7], it nevertheless calls for compassionate intervention.  Is it not the Catholic belief that sins (whether of action or of inaction) that are presently committed continue to wound the body of Christ making Him suffer the pains of His Passion continuously?

From a purely intellectual perspective, Claire Chretien is correct that "[t]he suggestion that stopping the murder of innocent human babies [cannot be] just as important as helping the 'situation of migrants'" [8] but in the heart where the compassion of Christ lives, aiding those who are just as defenseless as the unborn ought to have parity in terms of how one analyzes the seemingly non-comparable situations.



[1] https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/heres-why-previous-popes-called-abortion-the-greatest-of-all-human-rights-i
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] The Holy Family's escape to Egypt as refugees is the Second of the Seven Sorrows of Mother Mary:
http://www.themostholyrosary.com/appendix1.htm
[6] https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/heres-why-previous-popes-called-abortion-the-greatest-of-all-human-rights-i
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.