… no matter how small, in the words of the great philosopher Dr. Seuss.
Pope Benedict XVI’s first book published since his election to the papacy, noted in a previous post by Jimmy, will include a defense of the Church’s commitment to fighting for all life, even the lives of those the greater culture deems "insignificant":
"In his first book published since his election as Pope, Benedict XVI rejects the suggestion that the Church has given up its fight for the right to life of the unborn, instead emphasizing that ‘There is no such thing as "small murders."
"’Respect for every single life is an essential condition for anything worthy of being called social life,’ he wrote, as reported by Reuters news. The book, The Europe of Benedict, in the Crisis of Cultures — only available in Italian — is a compilation of three sermons delivered between 1992 and April 2005 by the Pope while he was still Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"’Why don’t we resign ourselves to the fact that we lost [the abortion] battle and dedicate our energies instead to projects where we can find greater social consensus?’ Pope Benedict XVI asks rhetorically. ‘Recognising the sacred nature of human life and its inviolability without any exceptions is not a small problem or something that can be considered part of the pluralism of opinions in modern society,’ he answers."
Now, what I want to know is when the Pope’s new book will be translated into English.
I have sometimes wondered if the easy pro-life interpretation of Seuss’ “Horton Hears a Who” is not one of the reasons it is no longer seen on television. Other Seuss specials are common, but not Horton.
Think that is a stretch? Cosider the political overtones of the Wickersham Brothers’ song, sung to Horton the elephant (who is quite sure there are tiny people living on a dust speck on a certain clover, though no one believes him):
“We know what you’re up to, pal,
You’re trying to shatter our morale.
You’re trying to stir up discontent,
And seize the reins of government.
You’re trying to throw sand in our eyes,
You’re trying to kill free enterprise,
And raise the cost of figs and dates,
and drive up compound interest rates,
And shut our schools and steal our jewels,
And even change our football rules,
and lock us up in vestibules!
We’re the Wickersham brothers—we know your type!”
Although I have not been able to confirm this, I once heard that Theodore Geisel’s widow resented that pro-lifers had adopted “A person’s a person, no matter how small” as a pro-life slogan. If true, that would be very sad.