The opposition to abortion isn't a matter of religious doctrine, but an issue of "fundamental human rights," Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of the Archdiocese of San Francisco said in a Newsmax interview Friday while commenting on President Joe Biden's opposition to the Supreme Court's ruling on Texas' abortion law.
"There's a lot of cognitive dissonance going on here," Cordileone said on Newsmax's "National Report."
"This issue is not something that's religiously specific. It's not a religious doctrine. It's a matter of fundamental human rights and fundamental moral issues."
Biden, a Catholic, has railed against the Supreme Court's decision not to block a Texas law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy or after a fetal heartbeat is heard, calling it a violation of women's rights. The president has also said he supports a woman's right to choose and the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
The archbishop, though, said that religions, through "fundamental issues of justice" reinforce the opposition to abortion through their teachings, "but it's not something denominationally specific."
Catholics, he added, are firm in their belief about fundamental human rights.
"We're against killing innocent human beings," said Cordileone. "We're in favor of supporting women in crisis pregnancy situations. The solution is never violence. Violence begets violence."
Instead, the solution is to surround a pregnant woman with "love and support," said the archbishop.
"I don't know how one can claim to be a devout Catholic when our church supports fundamental human rights and yet takes positions opposing fundamental human rights."
Meanwhile, where Biden is concerned, Cardileone said he has "no doubt that in his heart he has sort of an affectionate devotion for being Catholic, that his faith is important to him."
However, on "some fundamental issues" the president is "at odds with what we know to be true," he said.
"So our role as bishops is to teach the faith and bear witness to the faith. I think we have to teach even more emphatically and help our people understand that again the response in these situations is not violence. It's love."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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