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Italy

Cardinal to resign?
Criminal investigation continues

Cardinal Michele Giordano of Naples, who has been under investigation for more than two years in connection with money-laundering charges, may submit his resignation at the close of the Jubilee year, according to stories circulating in the Italian media.

The Vatican press office has issued a statement indicating that there are no plans for the resignation of the Naples prelate. The Holy See and the Italian bishops’ conference have both supported Cardinal Giordano, who insists that he is innocent of the charges.

However, a report in the Italian daily Il Messaggero suggests that the Vatican is convinced, regardless of the cardinal’s innocence, that the legal charges against him have made it impossible for him to continue his pastoral work effectively. The story goes on to say that Cardinal Giordano might take a “sabbatical” until his legal situation is resolved, and then take a new assignment, perhaps inside the Roman Curia.

The story in Il Messaggero even proposes the name of a few possible replacements for the embattled prelate. The paper notes that Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe, the secretary for the central committee planning the Jubilee observances, will be free to accept another assignment when the Jubilee is concluded. And Il Messaggero also mentions Archbishop Giuseppe Costanzo of Syracuse in Sicily.

Cardinal Giordano has been charged by prosecutors in Lagonegro, a city south of Naples, in connection with loan-sharking schemes operated by the local Mafia. The cardinal is accused of mishandling funds from the Naples archdiocese, and making loans to his brother, an alleged member of an organized crime syndicate.

Objections to “morning- after pill”
Church leaders seek conscience clause

The Pontifical Academy for Life has called for “conscientious objection” against the use of the “morning-after pill,” explaining that the pill causes abortions.

The “morning-after pill,” which is now available through Italian pharmacies, prevents the implantation of the fertilized fetus, and thus causes the death of the unborn child, the Pontifical Academy explained. In a note published October 31, the Academy concludes that the pill is not a contraceptive, but an abortifacient.

The result of the use of the “morning-after pill,” the new statement argued, “is nothing but an abortion, caused by chemical means.” The statement went on to say that it is neither “intellectually coherent nor scientifically justifiable” to argue otherwise.

When the “morning-after pill” went on sale in Italy, Cardinal Camillo Ruini repeated the Church’s argument that pharmacists should not be required to carry the abortifacient drug. Cardinal Ruini, the president of the Italian bishops’ conference, underlined the point that the “morning-after pill” is not a contraceptive, in that it does not prevent pregnancy; rather, the pill causes the destruction of a human embryo after conception.

The cardinal also argued that the pill should be treated under the terms of the Italian Law 194. That law allows legal abortion, but also stipulates that doctors and health-care workers cannot be forced to perform or participate in abortions. The same “conscience clause” should be available to pharmacists in the case of the “morning-after pill,” he said.

Italy’s health minister, Umberto Veronesi, has classified the pill as an “emergency contraceptive,” and justified his decision to allow its sale on the grounds that Italy will now fall in line with other countries of the European Union.