Catholic Newspaper Claims Pro-Abortion AOC is “The Future of the Catholic Church”

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jul 31, 2020   |   2:38PM   |   Washington, DC

A newspaper that claims to be Catholic praised pro-abortion U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez this week, calling her “the future of the Catholic Church.”

The New York representative is a radical pro-abortion politician who has no qualms about calling herself a socialist. Though she supports abortion on demand and wants to force taxpayers to pay for it, Heidi Schlumpf, the executive editor of the National Catholic Reporter, claimed Ocasio-Cortez is a model of integrity that should inspire the Catholic Church.

Schlumpf highlighted Ocasio-Cortez’s speech last week in the U.S. House in response to allegations that another representative called her a sexist slur. U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, a pro-life Republican from Florida, denied using the slur but did apologize if he said something that insulted her.

“As I listened to her 10-minute address on the House floor, I was struck by how often it referenced Catholic values,” Schlumpf wrote.

“Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly railed against the ‘dehumanizing’ of others and instead called for treating people with dignity and respect,” she continued. “These are themes often repeated by Pope Francis, who has specifically cautioned about gossip and urged the use of respectful language, saying ‘it is possible to kill someone with the tongue.’”

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Praising the young congresswoman as a “rock star millennial,” Schlumpf said Ocasio-Cortez grew up Catholic and says her faith influences her views on politics.

“… if there is to be a future for the Catholic Church in the United States — it must also resemble Ocasio-Cortez in her passion for justice and human dignity, and in her courage and integrity, even in the face of vulgar attacks,” the editor wrote.

But Schlumpf did not bring up Ocasio-Cortez’s radical pro-abortion views, which contradict Catholic Church teachings about the sanctity of human life, nor did she address how supporting abortion contradicts Ocasio-Cortez’s claims about dignity and respect for every human being.

But readers did.

“I think it’s a far reach to believe her ‘speech’ was Catholic in its nature. It would be much more accurate to acknowledge her ‘anti-Catholic’ rhetoric, specifically her support of abortion through full term and her continuous push for socialist policies,” responded Lee Cisneros, of Houston, Texas.

Cisneros said he is an immigrant who came to America from a socialist country, and Catholics should not support socialism.

Reader Jayme Garfield, of Uniontown, Ohio, agreed, writing: “If the future of the Catholic Church is indeed people who advocate the slaughter of innocent souls in the womb then I will renounce my faith. … it is ridiculous to suggest that Jesus Christ would support abortion. You can be passionate about the poor, homeless, etc. without being a passionate supporter of abortion.”

And Patrick Kelleher, of Niles, Illinois, said the opinions in the piece were “sickening.”

“She is radically pro-abortion supporting both late-term and post-term abortions. If that is the Catholic Church, it should not have a future,” Kelleher wrote. “And your publication has no right to continue to pretend any affiliation with the Catholic Church.”

The Catholic Church teaches that every human life is valuable, from conception to natural death, and abortion is a grave moral evil because it destroys an innocent unborn child.