The Catholic church in Brazil

If up early enough on a Sunday morning I sometimes listen to Sunday on Radio 4. It is a religious magazine programme which covers religious stories from all religions, although not religious myself I find it an interesting programme.

This morning I was shocked to hear the story of a 9 year Brazilian girl who became pregnant as a result of her father's sexual abuse, who subsequently had an abortion, which is only legal under Brazilian law in cases of rape or when the mother's life is at risk which was clearly the case for both these reasons.

As a result of this the child's mother and the doctors who treated her have been ex-communicated by the Catholic church, were as the abusive father is allowed to remain in the church.

This once again shows how out of touch the Catholic church has become in the 21st century. Surely such immoral behaviour will push yet more of its congregation away. If the church wants to be seen as the voice of morality it needs a reality check as to what is morally acceptable behaviour in the 21st century.