Democrat Response to Pope's Abortion Comments

No surprises here:

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Pope Benedict XVI kicked off a historic five-day visit to Brazil on Wednesday by sending a tough anti-abortion message that sparked a hemisphere-wide debate over the Roman Catholic Church's efforts to influence politicians.

In answer to a question about Mexico City's recent legalization of abortion, Benedict indicated that he would support Mexican bishops if they were to decide to excommunicate lawmakers who voted for the law.

"It is part of the code," Benedict said, according to reporters aboard the plane. "It is based simply on the principle that the killing of an innocent human child is incompatible with going in communion with the body of Christ."

The Vatican quickly clarified the pope's remarks, saying that he may have inferred from the question that Mexico's bishops had already taken action against the lawmakers, which they hadn't.

But the seeming support for excommunicating Catholic politicians who buck the church on abortion overshadowed Benedict's arrival in Sao Paulo on his first trip outside Europe since he became pope in 2005.

Benedict wasted no time in returning to the abortion issue after arriving at Sao Paulo's Guarulhos International Airport, where he was greeted by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and other officials.

"I know the soul of this people, as with in all of Latin America, preserves the radically Christian values that will never be canceled," the pope said in Portuguese. He went on to champion "the respect for human life, from its conception to its natural decline."

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Reaction from Catholic politicians who support abortion rights was swift throughout North and South America.

In Washington, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a Catholic, acidly compared the pope's comment to the church's record of protecting priests accused of sexually abusing children. [ED.: You lose, Sen. Leahy.]

"I've always thought also that those bishops and archbishops who for decades hid pederasts and are now being protected by the Vatican should be indicted," he said. [ED.: Sounds like a threat to me. You've already shown yourself to be capable of selling out your country, Sen. Leaky Leahy, so I suppose it's no surprise that you'd use threats to sell your own Church down the river for political gain, as well.]

A spokeswoman for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was more cautious, noting that Kerry's Catholic faith had been thoroughly discussed during his failed 2004 presidential election campaign.

"We'd all be better off if issues like poverty, just war and the whole cloth of Catholic teachings had been discussed as well," said Amy Brundage, Kerry's press secretary. [ED.: Anything to take the focus off of my horrendous record on life issues.] "Senator Kerry believes in a woman's right to privacy, and he continues to believe in his faith, which sustains him."

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