Flash: Abp. Chaput publishes official response to Pelosi's scandalous comments on abortion

From the Archdiocese of Denver Website:

Denver bishops clarify to local flock the Church’s longstanding teaching against abortion

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M Cap. and his auxiliary bishop, James D. Conley, address an on line letter titled “On the Separation of Sense and State: A Clarification for the People of the Church of Northern Colorado,” regarding the Catholic Church’s constant teaching condemning abortion as always gravely evil. Click here [PDF] to read the letter to Catholics of the Archdiocese of Denver.

My comments to follow shortly.

update, my observations:

• by titling his clarification "ON THE SEPARATION OF SENSE AND STATE" (as opposed to Church & State), the Archbishop Chaput makes it clear he is arguing a matter of public, historical record, not ideological or philosophical (let alone religious) preference: Pelosi is wrong not only in these ways, but most fundamentally, historically and objectively, thus displaying that she lacks - simply put - "sense."
• by calling it a "A CLARIFICATION FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE CHURCH IN NORTHERN COLORADO", Abp. Chaput is fulfilling his role as bishop to safeguard the faith of the Catholics entrusted to the care of his diocese, thus the geographical specification.
• The first paragraph re-states some of main points the Archbishop makes in his recently-released book Render Unto Caesar.
• Abp. Chaput mercifully compliments Pelosi as a "gifted public servent" but has no qualms claiming that she lacks "knowledge of Catholic history and teaching".
• Abp. Chaput uses Pelosi's own words about having studied the issue "for a long time" (and later on, "ardent, practicing") against her, revealing how she really put herself in this compromised position
• Abp. Chaput quotes Connery's definitive work The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective [on abortion] and Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, both of whom definitively contradict Pelosi's lies about the history of the Church's teaching. There's no getting around it.

The last three paragraphs deserve to be quoted in full. I can't say it any better:

Of course, we now know with biological certainty exactly when human life begins. Thus, today's religious alibis for abortion and a so-called "right to choose" are nothing more than that - alibis that break radically with historic Christian and Catholic belief.

Abortion kills an unborn, developing human life. It is always gravely evil, and so are the evasions employed to justify it. Catholics who make excuses for it - whether they're famous or not - fool only themselves and abuse the fidelity of those Catholics who do sincerely seek to follow the Gospel and live their Catholic faith.

The duty of the Church and other religious communities is moral witness. The duty of the state and its officials is to serve the common good, which is always rooted in moral truth. A proper understanding of the "separation of Church and state" does not imply a separation of faith from political life. But of course, it's always important to know what our faith actually teaches.

Imagine if other local bishops had the courage to follow suit. Archbishop Chaput has already stepped into the breach - will no one join him? What exactly, in the above, could they validly disagree with?

Related: Abp. Chaput also recently said pro-abortion Catholic Joe Biden should refrain from Communion // Denver archbishop slams Pelosi on Church teachings and abortion // Bishops Correct Speaker Nancy Pelosi: 'On the Separation of Sense and State' (Catholic Online) // update: Archbishop scolds pro-choice Biden (Washington Times)