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 WASHINGTON-Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on everyone "concerned about the tragedy of abortion" to recommit to a "vision of life and love, a vision that excludes no one" on January 14. His statement marks the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Cardinal Dolan chairs the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"Most Americans oppose a policy allowing legal abortion for virtually any reason - though many still do not realize that this is what the Supreme Court gave us," wrote Cardinal Dolan. "Most want to protect unborn children at later stages of pregnancy, to regulate or limit the practice of abortion, and to stop the use of taxpayer dollars for the destruction of unborn children. Yet many who support important goals of the pro-life movement do not identify as 'pro-life,' a fact which should lead us to examine how we present our pro-life vision to others."

"Even as Americans remain troubled by abortion," wrote Cardinal Dolan, a powerful and well-funded lobby holds "that abortion must be celebrated as a positive good for women and society, and those who cannot in conscience provide it are to be condemned for practicing substandard medicine and waging a 'war on women'." He said this trend was seen recently when President Obama and other Democratic leaders prevented passage of the Abortion Non-Discrimination Act, "a modest measure to provide for effective enforcement" of conscience laws.

"While this is disturbing," said Cardinal Dolan, "it is also an opportunity." Pro-life Americans should reach out to "the great majority of Americans" who are "open to hearing a message of reverence for life." He added that "we who present the pro-life message must always strive to be better messengers. A cause that teaches the inexpressibly great value of each and every human being cannot show disdain or disrespect for any fellow human being." He encouraged Catholics to take part, through prayer and action, in the upcoming "9 Days for Life" campaign, January 16-24. More information on the campaign is available online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxJwfcefUiU

He also cited the Year of Mercy called by Pope Francis as a time for women and men to find healing through the Church's Project Rachel post-abortion ministry.

The full text of Cardinal Dolan's message is available online.
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Keywords: Roe v. Wade, anniversary, Pro-Life, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, 9 Days for Life, USCCB, U.S. bishops, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Year of Mercy, Project Rachel, Pope Francis
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On Monday evening Pope Francis flew to the city of  Tuxtla Gutierrez, the capital of the Mexican southeast state of Chiapas, where he met with families in the city’s stadium (the stadium of Tuxtla Gutierrez). Before addressing the gathering, he listened to testimonies by people from different family situations who included a civilly married couple of divorced parents who are actively involved with charitable work, a disabled adolescent who found joy in being accepted by the church and is now active in the evangelization of other youth, a single mother who was rejected by society but welcomed with love in the Church, and a catholic family of the diocese of Tapachula.

In his prepared remarks, Pope Francis noted that the testimonies he had heard represented the joys, hopes and determination by which many families confront sadness, disillusion and failings. He observed that “living in a family is not always easy, and can often be painful and stressful”. He added that he would prefer a wounded family that makes daily efforts to put love into play to a society that is afraid of love.   

Before travelling to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the Pope visited the cathedral of San Cristóbal where he offered flowers to the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a gift of a chalice and a Chasuble to the cathedral. Inside the Church, he was welcomed by groups of the elderly and the sick. Before reciting the Marian prayer with them he told them that they help Jesus to carry his cross, by taking a piece of it. He prayed to God through the intercession of Our Lady to give them strength and peace of heart and to comfort them. 

Here below is the Pope’s full speech in English to the Families in the stadium of Tuxtla Gutierrez.

Dear brothers and sisters,

            I am grateful to be here, on Chiapaneca soil.  It feels good to be here on this soil, on this land; it is good to be here in this place which, with you here, has a family flavour, a home flavour.  I give thanks to God for your faces and your presence; I give thanks to God because of the heart-beat of his presence in your families.  I also thank you, families and friends, for giving us your witness, for opening to us the doors of your homes and your lives; you have allowed us to sit with you sharing both in the bread that nourishes you and in the sweat of your brow as you face the difficulties of every day.  It is the bread representing the joys, the hopes and the hard sweat with which you confront sadness, disillusion and failings.  I thank you for allowing me to enter into your families, your homes, and to sit at your tables.

            Manuel, I thank you for your witness and especially for your example.  I liked the expression you used “to put your heart into it” [echarle ganas] describing the attitude you took after speaking with your parents.  You began to put your heart into your life, your family, your friends; you put your heart into us gathered here.  I believe that this is what the Holy Spirit always wants to do in our midst: to put a new heart into us, giving us reasons to keep on taking risks, dreaming and building a life that has this sense of home, of family.

            This is something which God the Father has always dreamt of and for which he has fought for a very long time.  When everything seemed lost that afternoon in the Garden of Eden, God the Father put a new heart into that young couple and told them that everything was not lost.  When the people of Israel felt that they could not go on journeying through the desert, God the Father put his heart into it by giving them manna from heaven.  When the fullness of time came, God the Father put his heart into it by giving humanity the eternal gift of his Son.

            Similarly, all of us here have had this experience, in different moments and different ways; God the Father has put his heart into it for us.  We can ask ourselves: why?  Because he cannot do otherwise.  He knows how to put his best into us; why?  Because his name is love, his name is gift, his name is self-giving, his name is mercy.  This he has shown us with complete power and clarity in Jesus, his Son, who risked everything to the end so as to once again make possible the Kingdom of God.  A Kingdom that invites us to share in a new mindset, that puts into motion a dynamic power capable of opening the heavens, capable of opening our hearts, our minds, our hands and capable of challenging us with new possibilities.  This is a Kingdom which has the feeling of family, the flavour of a life shared.  In Jesus and with Jesus this Kingdom is possible.  He is capable of changing our perspectives, attitudes, and feelings, which are often watery and dull, into the wine of joy and celebration.  He can heal our hearts and invite us again and again, seventy times seven, to begin anew.  He can make all things new.

            Manuel, you asked me to pray for the many adolescents who are disillusioned and on a wrong path, many who are deflated, tired and without aspirations.  And as you yourself rightly said, this attitude often comes from a feeling of loneliness, from not having someone to talk to.  And this reminds me of the witness which Beatrice gave us.  If I am not mistaken Beatrice, you said: “the struggle has always been difficult because of uncertainty and loneliness”.  Uncertainty, insufficiency, and often not having the bare essentials, can lead to despair, can make us deeply anxious because we cannot see a way forward, especially when we have children in our care.  Uncertainty is not only a threat to our stomach (which is already serious), but it can also threaten our soul, demoralizing us and taking away our energy so that we seek apparent solutions that in the end solve nothing.  There is a kind of uncertainty which can be very dangerous, which can creep in surreptitiously; it is the uncertainty born of solitude and isolation.  And isolation is always a bad counsellor.

            Both, unknowingly, used the same expression; both showed us that very often the greatest temptation we face is to cut ourselves off, and far from putting our heart into things, this attitude of isolation ends up, like a moth, drying up our souls. 

            The way to overcome the uncertainty and isolation which makes us vulnerable to so many apparent solutions, can be found on different levels.  One is through legislation which protects and guarantees the bare necessities of life so that every home and every person can develop through education and dignified employment.  There is, on the other hand, what the witness of Humberto and Claudia made evident when they explained how they tried to convey to others the love of God that they experienced through service and generous giving.  Laws and personal commitment make good duo that can break the spiral of uncertainty.

            Today we see how on different fronts the family is weakened and questioned.  It is regarded as a model which has done its time, but which has no place in our societies; these, claiming to be modern, increasingly favour a model based on isolation.

            It is true that living in family is not always easy, and can often be painful and stressful but, as I have often said referring to the Church, I prefer a wounded family that makes daily efforts to put love into play, to a society that is sick from isolationism and habitual afraid of love.  I prefer a family that makes repeated efforts to begin again, to a society that is narcissistic and obsessed with luxury and comfort.  I prefer a family with tired faces from generous giving, to faces with makeup that know nothing of tenderness and compassion.

            I have been asked to pray for you and I want to do so now, with you.  You Mexicans have something extra; you run ahead with an advantage.  You have a Mother, la Guadalupana.  She wanted to visit this land and this gives us the certainty of her intercession so that our dream, which we call the family, may not be lost through uncertainty or solitude.  She is always ready to defend our families, our future; she is always ready to put her heart into it by giving us her Son.  For this reason, I invite you to join our hands and say together: “Hail Mary…”.

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Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, Feb 15, 2016 / 02:45 pm (CNA).- Update: 6:20 pm EST - Below is the full text of Pope Francis' prepared remarks for the meeting with families in the “Víctor Manuel Reyna” stadium in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico on Feb. 15, 2016:
Update: 7:50 pm EST - The Pope's few unscripted remarks have been added to the prepared remarks that he delivered.

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am grateful to be here, on Chiapaneca soil. It feels good to be here on this soil, on this land; it is good to be here in this place which, with you here, has a family flavour, a home flavour. I give thanks to God for your faces and your presence; I give thanks to God because of the heart-beat of his presence in your families. With you it has the flavor of family. I also thank you, families and friends, for giving us your witness, for opening to us the doors of your homes and your lives; you have allowed us to sit with you sharing both in the bread that nourishes you and in the sweat of your brow as you face the difficulties of every day. It is the bread representing the joys, the hopes and the hard sweat with which you confront sadness, disillusion and failings. I thank you for allowing me to enter into your families, your homes, and to sit at your tables.

Manual, before thanking you for your testimony I want to thank your parents, both of them, on their knees before you assuming their role. Can you see what the importance of this image? Parents, on their knees, before their son who is sick. Let us never forget this image. From time to time, when they argue about something – what husband and wife do not argue, and more so when the mother in law gets involved, what matters is that they love each other and they have demonstrated that they love each other and are capable of love from being on their knees, in front of their sick child. Thank you friends for this testimony that you have given and continue forward.

Manuel, I thank you for your witness and especially for your example. I liked the expression you used “to put your heart into it” [echarle ganas] describing the attitude you took after speaking with your parents.

You began to put your heart into your life, your family, your friends; you put your heart into us gathered here. I believe that this is what the Holy Spirit always wants to do in our midst: to put a new heart into us, giving us reasons to keep on taking risks for the family, dreaming and building a life that has this sense of home, of family. Can we encourage them? This is something which God the Father has always dreamt of and for which he has fought for a very long time. When everything seemed lost that afternoon in the Garden of Eden, God the Father put a new heart into that young couple and told them that everything was not lost. When the people of Israel felt that they could not go on journeying through the desert, God the Father put his heart into it by giving them manna from heaven. When the fullness of time came, God the Father put his heart into it by giving humanity the eternal gift of his Son. Similarly, all of us here have had this experience, in different moments and different ways; God the Father has put his heart into it for us. We can ask ourselves: why? Because he cannot do otherwise. Our God the Father does not know how to do anything else except encourage us and love us. He knows how to put his best into us; why? Because his name is love, his name is gift, his name is self-giving, his name is mercy. This he has shown us with complete power and clarity in Jesus, his Son, who risked everything to the end so as to once again make possible the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom that invites us to share in a new mindset, that puts into motion a dynamic power capable of opening the heavens, capable of opening our hearts, our minds, our hands and capable of challenging us with new possibilities. This is a Kingdom which has the feeling of family, the flavour of a life shared. In Jesus and with Jesus this Kingdom is possible. He is capable of changing our perspectives, attitudes, and feelings, which are often watery and dull, into the wine of joy and celebration. He can heal our hearts and invite us again and again, seventy times seven, to begin anew. He can make all things new. Manuel, you asked me to pray for the many adolescents who are disillusioned and on a wrong path, many who are deflated, tired and without aspirations. And as you yourself rightly said, this attitude often comes from a feeling of loneliness, from not having someone to talk to. Think about it fathers, think about it mothers. Do you talk to your sons and daughters or are you always busy and in a hurry? Do you play with you sons and daughters? And this reminds me of the witness which Beatrice gave us. If I am not mistaken Beatrice, you said: “the struggle has always been difficult because of uncertainty and loneliness”.  How many times did you feel pointed out or judged? Think in all the people, all the women that have experienced what happened to Beatriz.. Uncertainty, insufficiency, and often not having the bare essentials, can lead to despair, can make us deeply anxious because we cannot see a way forward, especially when we have children in our care. Uncertainty is not only a threat to our stomach (which is already serious), but it can also threaten our soul, demoralizing us and taking away our energy so that we seek apparent solutions that in the end solve nothing. And you were courageous Beatriz! Thank you!There is a kind of uncertainty which can be very dangerous, which can creep in surreptitiously; it is the uncertainty born of solitude and isolation.

And isolation is always a bad counsellor. Manuel and Beatriz, unknowingly, used the same expression; both showed us that very often the greatest temptation we face is to cut ourselves off, and far from putting our heart into things, this attitude of isolation ends up, like a moth, drying up our souls. The way to overcome the uncertainty and isolation which makes us vulnerable to so many apparent solutions, can be found on different levels. One is through legislation which protects and guarantees the bare necessities of life so that every home and every person can develop through education and dignified employment. There is, on the other hand, what the witness of Humberto and Claudia made evident when they explained how they tried to convey to others the love of God that they experienced through service and generous giving. Laws and personal commitment make good duo that can break the spiral of uncertainty. You kept moving forward, you prayed, and you are with Jesus, and you are involved in the life of the Church. You used a beautiful expression: we comulgate with the weak one, the sick, the imprisoned. Thank you, thank you. Today we see how on different fronts the family is weakened and questioned. It is regarded as a model which has done its time, but which has no place in our societies; these, claiming to be modern, increasingly favor a model based on isolation. And in our societies in is being injected…they are called free societies, democratic, sovereign, and they are injecting destructive ideologies into the family, into the nucleus of the family which is the foundation of a healthy society. It is true that living in family is not always easy, and can often be painful and stressful but, as I have often said referring to the Church, I prefer a wounded family that makes daily efforts to put love into play, to a society that is sick from isolationism and habitual afraid of love. I prefer a family that makes repeated efforts to begin again, to a society that is narcissistic and obsessed with luxury and comfort.

How many children do you have? No, no we do not have any children because, you know, we like to go on vacation, see the sites, I want to by myself a second home…luxury and comfort and children are left out and when they want to have a child, the time has already passed. What damage this does! I prefer a family with a tired face because of their dedication to the family with faces done up than those that have not known love and compassion.

I prefer a man and a woman, with wrinkly faces because of the fights of everyday life that after 50 years they continue to love each other and there you have them and the son that learned the lesson, and has now been married for 25 years. Those are the families, when I asked Aniceto and his wife who had more patience during those more than 50 years, they said both. Because in the family, to be able to accomplish what they have done, you have to have patience, love and know how to forgive one another.

But Father, a perfect family never argues. That’s a lie. It is ok from time to time to argue and let a plate fly overhead, that’s ok. Do not be afraid of that. The only advice that I can give is to not allow a day to end without asking for forgiveness because if the day ends in war, you will wake up to a cold war and a cold war is very dangerous for a family because it is undermining from below. Wrinkles from matrimonial fidelity. Thank you for the your testimony of more than 50 years, thank you. And speaking about wrinkles – to change the subject – I remember the testimony of a great actress, a movie star, a Latina. When she was already 60 something, she began to have some wrinkles on her face and they told her that she should get a little work done to be able to continue to work. Her answer was very clear: these wrinkles costed me a lot of work! A lot of effort! A lot of pain and a full life! No way do I want to touch them, they are the footprints of my history. She continued to be a great actress!

In marriage, the same thing happens. Marriage has to renew itself every day. Like I said, I prefer families with wrinkles and wounds, with scars but that keeps moving forward. Because these wounds, these scars, these wrinkles are the fruits of fidelity, of a love that is not always easy. Love is not always easy, no, but it is the most beautiful that a man and a woman can have, true love, for life.

I have been asked to pray for you and I want to start right now, with you. You dear Mexicans have something special, you have an advantage. You have the Mother: the Guadalupana wanted to visit these lands, that gives us a certainty of having her intercession so that this dream called a family is not lost in insecurity and loneliness. She is Our Mother and is always available to defend our families and to defend our future. She is always available to strengthen our hearts and give us to her Son. Because of this, I invite you to take her hand and say to her: Hail Mary Full of Grace…

Let us not forget about Saint Joseph, a little quiet, a worker who was always in front, always caring for the family. Thank you. May God bless you and in this familiar celebration, let the marriages present, in silence, renew their matrimonial vows and the engaged ask for the grace of a faithful family, full of love.

I prefer a family with tired faces from generous giving, to faces with makeup that know nothing of tenderness and compassion. I have been asked to pray for you and I want to do so now, with you. You Mexicans have something extra; you run ahead with an advantage. You have a Mother, la Guadalupana.

She wanted to visit this land and this gives us the certainty of her intercession so that our dream, which we call the family, may not be lost through uncertainty or solitude. She is always ready to defend our families, our future; she is always ready to put her heart into it by giving us her Son. For this reason, I invite you to join our hands and say together: “Hail Mary…”.

The #Chiapas Jaguars soccer stadium couldn't have been fuller, or louder for when #PopeFrancis arrived #PopeInMexico pic.twitter.com/rVfooDP0JC

— Alan Holdren (@AlanHoldren) February 15, 2016

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Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, Feb 15, 2016 / 04:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Although families today deeply struggle in a society rife with dysfunction and pain, this fundamental relationship is still essential for our lives and preferable to being alone, Pope Francis said.

“Today we see how on different fronts the family is weakened and questioned,” the Pope said Monday while meeting with families in Mexico's southern city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez.

“It is regarded as a model which has done its time, but which has no place in our societies; these, claiming to be modern, increasingly favor a model based on isolation.”

“It is true that living in family is not always easy, and can often be painful and stressful but, as I have often said referring to the Church, I prefer a wounded family that makes daily efforts to put love into play, to a society that is sick from isolationism and habitually afraid of love.”

The pontiff continued: “I prefer a family that makes repeated efforts to begin again, to a society that is narcissistic and obsessed with luxury and comfort. I prefer a family with tired faces from generous giving, to faces with makeup that know nothing of tenderness and compassion.”

Pope Francis met with families at the “Victor Manuel Reyna” Stadium in the capital of Mexico's Chiapas state during his third full day of his Feb 12-17 trip to the country.



The Pope listened to testimonies ranging from a young man with muscular dystrophy, to a divorced and remarried couple, a family struggling to obtain basic goods for their families, and a single mother who refused to undergo abortions despite pressure to do so.

Halfway through the witnesses, the Pope – to wild cheers from crowd – paused to bless a wheelchair-bound young man who the pontiff's security detail lifted on to the stage.

Responding to a series of testimonies given just before his address, Pope Francis expressed his gratitude for being in Chiapeneca, which has the “flavor” of family and a home.

“I give thanks to God because of the heart-beat of his presence in your families,” he said.

He also thanked the families for their witness and hospitality. “You have allowed us to sit with you sharing both in the bread that nourishes you and in the sweat of your brow as you face the difficulties of every day.”

“It is the bread representing the joys, the hopes and the hard sweat with which you confront sadness, disillusion and failings. I thank you for allowing me to enter into your families, your homes, and to sit at your tables.”



One of the people who gave testimony was Manuel, a teenager in a wheelchair who suffers from muscular dystrophy.  

The Pope responded to Manuel by name, acknowledging how he had put his “heart” into his life, his family, and his friendships.

“I believe that this is what the Holy Spirit always wants to do in our midst: to put a new heart into us, giving us reasons to keep on taking risks, dreaming and building a life that has this sense of home, of family.”

“This is something which God the Father has always dreamt of and for which he has fought for a very long time.”

The Pope reflected on examples throughout Scripture in which God placed a “new heart” into the people: he assured Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that all was not lost; he gave manna to the people of Israel as they journeyed through the desert.

Finally, “when the fullness of time came, God the Father put his heart into it by giving humanity the eternal gift of his Son.”

“Similarly, all of us here have had this experience, in different moments and different ways; God the Father has put his heart into it for us,” the Pope said.



God “cannot do otherwise,” he said: “Because his name is love, his name is gift, his name is self-giving, his name is mercy.”

This is shown in his Son, Jesus, in whom and with whom the “Kingdom of God” possible.

This Kingdom, the Pope said, “invites us to share in a new mindset, that puts into motion a dynamic power capable of opening the heavens, capable of opening our hearts, our minds, our hands and capable of challenging us with new possibilities.”

“This is a Kingdom which has the feeling of family, the flavor of a life shared.”

Jesus “is capable of changing our perspectives, attitudes, and feelings, which are often watery and dull, into the wine of joy and celebration,” the Pope continued.

“He can heal our hearts and invite us again and again, seventy times seven, to begin anew. He can make all things new.”

Pope Francis responded to Manuel's request for prayers for those adolescents who are disillusioned and “on a wrong path,” many of whom “are deflated, tired and without aspirations.”

“This attitude often comes from a feeling of loneliness, from not having someone to talk to,” the Pope said.

He then turned to the testimony given by a woman named Beatrice, a single mother who had expressed her own struggle with uncertainty and loneliness.

“Uncertainty, insufficiency, and often not having the bare essentials, can lead to despair, can make us deeply anxious because we cannot see a way forward, especially when we have children in our care,” the Pope said.

Such uncertainty not only affects our “stomach,” but our soul as well, “demoralizing us and taking away our energy so that we seek apparent solutions that in the end solve nothing.

This dangerous form of certainty is “born of solitude and isolation,” he said: “And isolation is always a bad counselor.”

“Very often the greatest temptation we face is to cut ourselves off, and far from putting our heart into things, this attitude of isolation ends up, like a moth, drying up our souls,” the Pope said, reflecting on the two testimonies.

He touched on the various ways of overcoming “uncertainty and isolation” which makes people vulnerable: Legislation which ensures access to the basic necessities of life, including education and employment.

Pope Francis then reflected on the witness of Humberto and Claudia, a divorced and remarried couple who, in accordance to Church teaching, abstains from receiving the Eucharist.

“Laws and personal commitment make good duo that can break the spiral of uncertainty.”

The Pope concluded his address by reminding the Mexican people of their “advantage”: Our Lady of Guadalupe, before leading those present in reciting the Hail Mary.

“She is always ready to defend our families, our future; she is always ready to put her heart into it by giving us her Son.”

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Washington D.C., Feb 15, 2016 / 04:54 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was a man of deep Catholic faith who saw his work through the eyes of vocation, said those who knew him.

“I think he’s an excellent example of someone who is a public servant because of his faith, and understands that he is living out the vocation. He’s not just doing a job, but he is living out his calling,” said Kevin Walsh, a law professor at the University of Richmond who once clerked for Scalia at the Supreme Court.

“Justice Scalia was a person of deep and sincere Catholic faith. It is clear that this faith, and the teachings of the Church, shaped his views about ethics, morality, and policy,” Richard Garnett, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame, told CNA in a statement.

But while his faith was a powerful driving factor in life, Scalia “insisted, though, that it was not the job or the place of a Catholic judge to reach ‘Catholic’ outcomes in cases,” Garnett emphasized. Rather, he focused on interpreting existing law as it was originally intended.

“In his view, the responsibility for making sure that our laws and policies are fair, just, and moral lies with ‘we the people’ and the representatives we elect,” he said. “In our system, he thought, judges should limit themselves to identifying and interpreting the laws that are given; they should not re-shape those laws, even to make them better.”

Justice Scalia passed away at age 79 on Saturday at a ranch in West Texas of apparently natural causes. The Diocese of El Paso confirmed that he received Last Rites after his death. Scalia, appointed to the Court in 1986, was the longest-serving Supreme Court justice on the bench and one of five Catholic justices.

The son of an Italian immigrant, he was baptized in the Cathedral of the Diocese of Trenton, N.J. and attended Xavier Catholic High School in New York City and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He and his wife had nine children, including Fr. Paul Scalia who is a priest in the Diocese of Arlington.

After his death, Catholic legal scholars and bishops all praised Scalia’s intellectual acumen and deep Catholic faith.

Bishop David O’Connell of Trenton, Scalia’s home diocese, called him “a devout Catholic” who “was widely regarded as one of the brightest American legal minds in recent decades” in a statement on the diocesan website.

“He was a man of extraordinary legal genius and fidelity to the Constitution,” stated Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia.  However, he added, “the larger part” of Scalia’s character “was his enduring Christian character.  His life as a husband, father, friend, scholar and judge was shaped profoundly by his Catholic faith. What made him ‘great’ in the only way that finally matters was his moral integrity.”

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln recalled his admiration of Scalia from a one dinner where he sat next to the justice and conversed with him.

“I have a graduate degree in moral theology, and still, the depth of his reflections, and the obvious extent of his research, astounded me.  No one, no matter his politics, can credibly deny Scalia’s genius,” he said in an op-ed in the Southern Nebraska Register.

And Scalia was open about his faith. His 2013 interview with New York Magazine raised eyebrows when he candidly revealed his belief in the existence of the devil.

“Hey, c’mon, that’s standard Catholic doctrine!” he told the surprised interviewer. “I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the Devil! It’s in the Gospels!”

Although he was a man of deep faith, however, Scalia did not invoke his faith to reach “Catholic” decisions at the Court, scholars maintained.

“He understood that he held an office, as a matter of public trust, and that that office had limits,” Walsh said. “His job was to apply the federal law of our country as faithfully as he could.”

An example of Scalia affirming this was his 2007 keynote address at a Villanova Law School conference, as reported by the journal First Things, where he said that “there is no such thing as a ‘Catholic judge’.”

“The bottom line is that the Catholic faith seems to me to have little effect on my work as a judge,” he said. “Just as there is no ‘Catholic’ way to cook a hamburger, I am hard pressed to tell you of a single opinion of mine that would have come out differently if I were not Catholic.”

In a 2002 essay for First Things on the morality of the death penalty, he prefaced it with this statement:

“Before proceeding to discuss the morality of capital punishment, I want to make clear that my views on the subject have nothing to do with how I vote in capital cases that come before the Supreme Court.

That statement would not be true if I subscribed to the conventional fallacy that the Constitution is a ‘living document’ – that is, a text that means from age to age whatever the society (or perhaps the Court) thinks it ought to mean.”

Scalia’s emphasis on interpreting the law as it was originally written and intended drew criticism from some Catholics that he was a “legal positivist” who ignored or downplayed the moral content of the law to focus on its original meaning. Walsh argued that is a misinterpretation.

“I think what he [Scalia] drew from Natural Law was an understanding that there are moral benefits to positive law, to adhering to things that were decided in the past, to use them to resolve disputes now,” he explained. “That there is a serious moral underpinning to insisting on sticking with the law, even when it doesn’t lead to outcomes that you prefer.”

The interpretation of human law for the citizenry – as seen in Scalia’s work – was emphasized by St. Thomas Aquinas, Walsh added. Law, in the classical sense, “is an ordinance of reason for the common good made by one with authority and promulgated,” Walsh said.

“And Justice Scalia’s jurisprudence really brings out the significance of promulgation in human law, that is, put out there in a form that could be understood, put out there in a form that you can hold the government, as well as the governed, to, set forth in authoritative text there to be applied by judges and other government officials.”

And Scalia, in interpreting the law as it was written, was uncomfortable with some actions he ruled were constitutional, Walsh noted. In Texas v. Johnson, he sided with the majority opinion that the burning of an American flag was protected under the First Amendment as a lawful expression of free speech.

“It would have pained him to see a flag being burned,” Walsh said, but he ruled that way “because our Constitution protects people from not being punished for expressing views that people disagree with. And that was a difficult vote for him in one sense, but not at all once he knew what the law required.”

Other critics might charge that Scalia’s “conservative” Catholic faith improperly influenced his decisions on abortion, marriage, and religious freedom, but that too is misguided, Garnett said.

“No one is perfectly consistent, of course, but it seems clear that Justice Scalia did not see his votes and opinions in cases as opportunities to impose Catholicism,” he said.

For instance, Scalia’s dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Casey – where in 1992 the Court upheld the Roe ruling that decided a woman’s legal right to have an abortion – was based on his opinion that a legal right to abortion was not in the Constitution, not that it was immoral.

“That is, quite simply, the issue in this case: not whether the power of a woman to abort her unborn child is a ‘liberty’ in the absolute sense; or even whether it is a liberty of great importance to many women. Of course it is both. The issue is whether it is a liberty protected by the Constitution of the United States. I am sure it is not,” he wrote.

Ultimately, Justice Scalia’s commitment to truth and serving the common good is an example for all lay Catholics to follow, wrote Bishop Conley.

“Of course, Catholics do not need to agree with every decision or viewpoint Antonin Scalia offered,” he said. “But like Justice Scalia did, all Catholics have an obligation to form their consciences according to the teaching of the Church, and to commit themselves to serving the common and public good.”
 
“In the face of great injustices, he offered himself – his intellect, his energies, and his judgment – for the sake of the common good. Every Catholic is called to imitate Scalia’s commitment to religious liberty, the family, and the unborn,” he continued.

“Like Justice Scalia, each one of us is called to seek justice and truth. We are called to support the right to life and the dignity of the human person. We are called to actively engage in public and political life, not in spite of our faith, but because of it.”  

 

 

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