Protestant Truth Society Resolution Regarding Recent Papal Pronouncement.
The following Resolution was sent to us by Mr. J. Kensit, at the end of November, 1951:—
“The Council of the Protestant Truth Society has had under consideration the much-publicised pronouncement of the Pope in regard to the saving of the infant at birth at the expense of the mother’s life whenever such vital alternative is presented.
“The Council feels strongly that the crisis decision is purely a matter for the doctor and parents, and that the Pope, who is no family man, can have no idea and no appreciation of the rights or feelings of those most concerned.
“The Papal statement imposes on public bodies the task of ensuring that neither Roman Catholic doctors nor nurses shall be in a position to carry it into effect. The Council endorses both the Dean of St. Paul’s warning that the Papal rule is ‘inhuman’ and also the Bishop of Carlisle’s assertion that it is a ‘wrongful interpretation of the religion of Jesus Christ.’ Moreover, the Protestant Truth Society is convinced that it goes beyond the limits of common sense, and declares that doctors, as hitherto, must exercise all their skill to see that in the eventuality, which is faced but seldom, it is the mother’s life which must be saved.
“If Roman Catholic parents are to be influenced by this ruling of the head of their Church, it forbodes very much harm in social relationships, whilst the general public must be protected from any medical man or woman attempting to carry out the Pope’s directions.
“This Council, therefore, hopes that the Ministry of Health, the General Medical Council, the Married Women’s Association, the Central Midwives’ Board, the Royal College of Obstetricians, and other such bodies will use their influence to protect families from this interference by the Vatican in the domestic life of the nation.
“Papal interference in matrimonial affairs hitherto has often caused much misery, even to the breaking up of homes, particularly by its iniquitous Ne Temere decree relating to mixed marriages. The imposition of celibacy upon the occupant of the Papal chair and on the priests of the Roman Church, which is both unapostolic and contrary to the Divine order of Holy Matrimony, vitiates their judgment on these matters.”