May 26, 2010 / 17:36 pm
Following an Arizona bishop's condemnation of an abortion that occurred at a local Catholic hospital, prominent Catholic leaders from around the globe are voicing their support for the prelate, writing that they “stand in solidarity” with him amid fierce criticism from the media.
On Friday of last week, Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix publicly condemned an abortion that took place late last year in the city's St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. The mother was 11 weeks pregnant and was seriously ill with pulmonary hypertension, the Washington Post reported.
An ethics committee which included doctors and hospital executive Sr. Margaret McBride ruled that the abortion was necessary. Sr. Margaret McBride later told Bishop Olmsted that her ruling was “a morally good and allowable act.”
The Arizona prelate stressed on May 14 that the “direct killing of an unborn child is always immoral, no matter the circumstances, and it cannot be permitted in any institution that claims to be authentically Catholic.” He also underlined that any Catholic who “formally cooperates in the procurement of an abortion” is “automatically excommunicated by that action.”