Premier pops off on Pope
By CHRISTINA BLIZZARDPremier Dalton McGuinty handed Pope Benedict a kid glove rebuke yesterday.
Polite, dignified -- diplomatic even. But make no mistake, McGuinty made it quite clear that he is not pleased with the Pope's recent dictate that politicians who are practising Catholics and also pro-choice on abortion should be excommunicated.
Those of us who've criticized McGuinty in the past for being wishy-washy on controversial issues were certainly caught flat-footed by the premier's spirited response to a question on this. He quietly told the Pope where to get off.
The Pope reiterated his view on pro-choice politicians on his first trip to Latin America last week. He agreed with Mexican bishops who said Catholic politicians had excommunicated themselves by legalizing abortion in that nation's capital. A papal spokesman later clarified that statement to mean that the bishops had not actually excommunicated them.
In a speech in Brazil, the Pope said he's certain the bishops will reinforce "the promotion of respect for life from the moment of conception until natural death as an integral requirement of human nature."
McGuinty often talks of proudly about growing up as one of 10 children in a big Catholic family. He jokes that while other kids got a new puppy for Christmas, he got a new brother or sister. His wife, Terri, is a kindergarten teacher in the Catholic school board. In short, it would be hard to find a more devout family. But McGuinty was quite adamant yesterday in pointing out that in his role as premier he represents all Ontarians, not just those who share his Catholic faith.
"I have a different constituency than does the Pope," McGuinty said when asked in a scrum about the Pope's statement last week.
"I am responsible for representing all kinds of people from all kinds of different backgrounds, different faiths, different cultures, different traditions," he said.
Absolutely. And in a multi-faith, multicultural province such as this, the very notion that a politician should have to check with the Vatican before making a pronouncement is scary.
And the Pope's threat -- and that's just what it is -- means that Catholics in this country would have to excuse themselves from public life. While we don't have the same separation of church and state that there is in the U.S. Constitution, it is a fairly well established tradition here that the church does not meddle in the politics of the nation. Well, it doesn't meddle much.
It is, frankly, shocking, the Pope would make such a provocative statement in this day and age.
What place does a medieval organization like the Vatican have in a modern multicultural society? What the Pope is actually proposing is that politicians be elected along religious rather than political lines. And that's pure poppycock.
A Catholic politician may not personally support abortion for themselves or their family. But you can't impose that view on public policy, which affects people of all faiths.
What's next? Will the Pope also excommunicate Catholic politicians in jurisdictions that allow gay marriage?
"The Pope, his purview is the church. My purview is Ontario and there is one particular aspect of myself that is in common with the Pope -- I happen to be Catholic, but I have other responsibilities as well," McGuinty told a scrum before a caucus meeting yesterday.
"I think it is pretty clear that there are very few political leaders who would allow themselves and their actions to be formed exclusively by the dictates of the Church."
Them's fightin' words. Well, not fightin' perhaps. But certain punchy. And good for McGuinty for making himself crystal clear on this issue.
Of course, the Catholic church is a law unto itself. They could cut a swath through the country, excommunicating politicians who dare ignore their rules. Nothing like cutting off your nose to spite your face.
Frankly, I don't see this as an issue of abortion, pro-choice or pro-life. This is an issue of not-so-subtle bullying by a foreign head of state in the affairs of another country. Do you want your laws dictated by a duly elected Parliament in Queen's Park or Ottawa? Or do you want them formulated by a bunch of unelected old men in Rome?
McGuinty took a brave stand on this. No matter what you think about abortion, we should all stand behind him.
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