Vatican Pressures 24 Nuns Who Signed Ad Citing Diverse Opinions on Abortion

The Vatican on Friday stepped up its pressure on 24 nuns from whom it is demanding retraction of a statement that committed Catholics can hold diverse opinions on abortion.

Cardinal Jean Jerome Hamer, the Vatican’s top official on matters of religious life, concluded a three-week visit to the United States by reiterating the call for retractions. He also demanded that the nuns “take steps to repair the scandal by indicating their adherence to the teaching of the church.”

If they do not “repair the scandal,” the cardinal said in a statement, they could face disciplinary proceedings, which could mean dismissal from their orders.

Frances Kissling, director of Catholics for a Free Choice, said Hamer’s new statement represents a hardening of views.

“They are being asked to sign loyalty oaths that they adhere to the teachings of the church. The assumption is that we are disloyal,” she said.

The 24 nuns, two priests and two brothers were among 97 signers of an Oct. 7, 1984, ad in the New York Times, which said there is “a mistaken belief in American society” that the only legitimate Catholic position is that abortion is wrong in all instances.

“In fact, a diversity of opinions regarding abortion exists among committed Catholics,” the ad said.

Hamer said Friday that the church teaching is that “the radical immorality of direct abortion is clear, constant, and unequivocal.”

The Vatican called for those who signed the ad to retract it a month after it appeared. The two brothers and two priests retracted, but none of the nuns would go along.

Kissling called Hamer’s remarks “most disheartening. . . . He is totally unaware of the nature of political life in America, the values of free speech.”

She added: “He’s causing far more scandal in denying people both moral and political rights than could possibly have been caused by religious people signing such a public statement.”