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Comment by fulvioterzapi | Hacker News Reader

> What I witnessed was no less than a 45 minute diatribe on the dangers of abortion, casting various aspersions (ad hominem) on any political leader not on board with new political agenda of the Catholic Church.

A typical Catholic Mass lasts less than one hour. Most of the Mass follows a fixed, prescribed set of prayers and readings, that have nothing to do with politics. In the middle there's a sermon, that usually lasts about 15 minutes, that might include references to news or to politics.

Either you ended up at a very atypical mass, and by very atypical I'd say borderline heretic, or you don't remember well.

> with new political agenda of the Catholic Church.

New? Like it or not, the position of the Catholic Church on abortion has been extraordinarily consistent through the centuries.

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Yeah, I'm not Catholic, but I go to services in all three major branches (Protestant, Orthodox, Catholic) and I am a Christian. Granted, I've only been to one service in the USA in recent years, but even still, Canada is not so different and I've not even heard abortion mentioned once nor long diatribes on any specific political issue other than vague warnings against government manipulated media.

But this isn't what gets mentioned in Hacker News comments. And it certainly isn't what is upvoted. The internet boosts grievances and fourth sigma event reporting.

> New? Like it or not, the position of the Catholic Church on abortion has been extraordinarily consistent through the centuries.

That's not even remotely true!

For the vast majority of the history of the Catholic Church early term abortion was acceptable. It was only the 1588 that it was outlawed, and that didn't last long, only a few years. Another ban was instituted in 1869.

At the timescale of the Catholic Church, the current extremist position on abortions is extremely recent. Far less established as precedent than say Roe was.

> Another ban was instituted in 1869.

That's more than 150 years ago. Matches pretty much my definition of consistency.

Even before, there might have been some doctrinal adjustments, but abortion was condemned by many Fathers of the Church, in the very early centuries.

> That's more than 150 years ago. Matches pretty much my definition of consistency.

So out of a 2000 year history, "consistency" means something that was invented 150 years ago? That seems like an absurd definition of consistency.

150 years out of 2000 is not consistent. If you value consistency, then ignore the current ruling as its relatively fresh and just carry on with abortion.

>It was only the 1588 that it was outlawed, and that didn't last long, only a few years.

I mean that was 500 years ago. It's hard to argue inconsistency when it's been the same for 500 years.

Reread what you quoted.

Hah. oops. I guess I was enamored by the fact that the math made it precisely 500 years ago this year.

It's 2088? Am I missing something?

Brain fart.

Not sure why you’re downvoted, my wife is catholic and you’re right on every point. I would even go further and say deviating from the standard ritual of catholic mass is probably a big no-no in the church and could land a priest in hot water.

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