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Italian babies must be domestically produced
Holy Scrollers
October 21, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes
Good morning Holy Scrollers!
In a contentious (yet incredibly based) move, Italy has banned surrogacy done outside of the country. Why do we think this is so great and that other countries should follow suit? Let’s find out…
In this week’s edition:
Italy expands anti-surrogacy laws
AG Paxton targets sex-change pediatrician
More stats on the state of Catholicism - guess how that went
LA archdiocese pays out massive abuse settlement
and more!
Merulana, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Summary: The bill amends a 2004 statute making surrogacy illegal in Italy
Details:
Law 40 regulates medically assisted procreation, article 12 section 6 of which criminalizes surrogacy.
Violation of the law carries a punishment of up to 2 year of prison time and between 600k and 1 million Euros.
The newly-passed bill amends Law 40 to include the following: “If the facts referred to in the previous clause, with reference to maternal surrogacy, are committed abroad, the Italian citizen shall be punished according to Italian law.”
Why we care: The Catholic moral argument against surrogacy aside, it should be blatantly obvious to any rational person that there’s something wrong about renting out another person’s uterus for the sake of procuring a child - the transactional nature of it goes against the basic instincts regarding human dignity. We think it’s incredible that Italy has taken this stand against the practice, and would love to see more countries following suit. Legally we’re not sure how it would work (in the U.S. at least) to police the actions of one or more individuals taken on foreign soil, but we’re totally behind the abolition of surrogacy to the fullest extent possible.
RMHare, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Summary: The doctor would be in violation of a state law passed in 2023 which forbids gender “transitions” from being done on minors.
Details:
The prescription of sex change hormones and puberty blockers is also prohibited by the bill.
The filing of the suit alleges that the doctor “engaged in deceptive trade practices, including by misleading pharmacies, insurance providers, and/or patients.”
A release from the AG’s office contends that these practices were to hide the fact that the doctor prescribes cross-sex hormones to 21 minor patients for the direct purpose of ‘transitioning’ the child’s biological sex.”
Why we care: We shouldn’t have to waste a bunch of “ink” talking about how twisted the whole gender ideology is, especially when it comes to subjecting minors to life-altering changes. Suffice it to say that it’s gross and any adult who participates in the practice should reconsider their life choices. We’re happy to see AG Paxton standing up in defense of both the law and children, and wish that more of society were so inclined to promote the protection of the youth.
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Summary: While the number of total Catholics and permanent deacons has risen since 2022, the number of men and women in religious formation and the number of baptisms has fallen.
Details:
The global number of Catholics grew 0.79% from 2021 to 2022
Europe was the only major region with a decline in Catholics, dropping by over 400k.
The Americas have the most Catholics per capita at 64% of the population.
The number of baptisms, priests, seminarians and religious decreased globally, though there were some regional increases.
Why we care: There have been enough studies and surveys coming out lately that this news probably doesn’t come as much of a shock. While the improvements in certain regions are cause for hope, the data reinforces the notion that there is much to be done in building up the kingdom on Earth, especially when it comes to our priests and religious. With Catholics/priest now at 3,408, perhaps one of the best things we can do is pray for and encourage vocations to the religious life, and while we don’t expect that everything else will simply fall into place perhaps it’s a good start.
Summary: An attorney has said that this is “the largest single child sex abuse settlement with a Catholic archdiocese.”
Details:
The settlement ends nearly 25 years of legal battles in which over 1,300 individuals claim to have been abused by local priests.
This brings the archdiocese’s total abuse settlement payouts to over $1.5 billion.
An assortment of funds will be used to cover the payments, including bank financing and money from individuals and religious groups named in the case.
Why we care: It’s tough to nail down the exact emotion or sentiment, but it’s complicated to process the idea of a single archdiocese paying over $1.5 billion because of evil priests while the global Church struggles with vocations and some local churches find it difficult to meet their meager (by comparison) financial obligations. We have no intent to demean the victims of abuse or say that they don’t deserve justice or retribution, but it feels so backwards and frustrating that this is where precious resources are going. We can only hope (perhaps in our child-like optimism) that this is the end of the issue on this large of a scale and that our bishops can focus instead on increasing vocations and improving catechesis in their respective dioceses to combat the issues revealed in polling as of late. As ever, Mother Church needs our prayers and dedication to her service.
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Quote of the Week
God’s love does not impose burdens upon us that we cannot carry, nor make demands of us that we cannot fulfill. For whatever He asks of us, He provides the help that is needed.”
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