Abortion Activist Renewing Bid to Kick Pro-Life Vatican Out of United Nations
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 8, 2009
New York, NY (LifeNews.com) — In a column appearing in the liberal magazine Salon today, former "Catholics for a Free Choice" president Frances Kissling is renewing her bid to kick the pro-life Vatican out of the United Nations. Kissling is a relentless abortion advocate who dislikes that the Catholic Church advocates pro-life principles.
Kissling tries to make the case that the Vatican isn’t really a state and therefore shouldn’t have permanent observer status at the United Nations.
Deal Hudson, a prominent Catholic writer, offers his input on Kissling’s column.
"Kissling has been trying to get the Vatican booted from the UN for years," he notes.
"Back in 1996, when I worked at the UN on behalf of some NGOs during the Beijing Conference on Women, she was there, giving workshops on the necessity of including abortion as a universal right, and complaining about the Vatican’s influence," he recalls. "I even had a personal conversation with her at one point where it was made clear to me that she had an axe to grind when it came to the Church."
Hudson concedes Kissling is right that the Vatican has a unique role at the UN as the sole Non-member State Permanent Observer, which means it has member privileges but can’t vote.
"Kissling points out that no other religious body enjoys this status. True, but no other religious organization is also a state," he observes.
Although Kissling doesn’t appear to think the Holy See is entitled to its UN status, the nations across the world appear to disagree.
"One wonders, then, why the Vatican is recognized as a state, worldwide, with little controversy apart from Kissling’s. Further, it has always recognized the unique nature of its status at the UN and the challenge to being both a spiritual body and a political entity," he notes.
Hudson says Kissling has other motivations apart from geopolitical uniformity for trying to get the United Nations to dismiss the Vatican.
"And who would have thought anyone would be so naive as to believe that Frances Kissling hasn’t been trying to get the Vatican out of the U.N. for years so that her anti-life positions can be more readily realized worldwide?"
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
