“The deceased is not subject to human judgment. We have a right to judge his conduct, also in a negative way, but we don’t know his deepest motivations and secrets of his conscience. The deceased is subject to the tribunal of the Merciful God” – we read in a press release of the spokesman for the Archdiocese of Warsaw, informing that the catholic funeral of Prof. Romuald Dębski – remembered as a promoter of abortion – will be held anyway.
Father Przemysław Śliwiński, the spokesman for the Archbishop and Archdiocese of Warsaw wrote: “The Church never ceases praying for the deceased, especially those, who need such a prayer the most. Prof. Romuald Dębski was a baptized Catholic and before his death received the Last Rites which in a situation of immediate threat to life stop the results of possible excommunication. Moreover no penalty provided by the Church law was administered to him nor declared.”
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He added: “the justified concern of the faithful was caused by the well-known attitude of the deceased to abortion which was contrary to the teaching of the Church. We remind that the Church unceasingly speaks up for the right to life from conception to natural death and opposes to any form of abortion. However we cannot forget the gratitude of many women having high-risk pregnancies whom the deceased helped to give birth.”
„Having expressed an ambiguous judgment of the deceased opinions and attitudes in this extremely important and delicate matter, let’s remember that the deceased is not subject to human judgment. We have a right to judge his conduct, also in a negative way, but we don’t know his deepest motivations and secrets of his conscience. The deceased is subject to the tribunal of the Merciful God” – the statement says.
Then Fr. Śliwiński points out that „taking all the circumstances into account the authorities of the Archdiocese of Warsaw decided that the Catholic funeral of Prof. Dębski would be held. During the funeral Mass no speeches would be included except the liturgical homily of the pastor of the parish of Blessed Edward Detkens in Warsaw. We hope that the liturgy will be an opportunity to reflect on the value of human life for which everyone will give account before the righteous and merciful Judge. Let our prayer for the deceased gain him God’s mercy.”
Prof. Romuald Dębski, the chief of the maternity and obstetrics ward in the Bielański Hospital in Warsaw, died on December 20th last year. He was 62 years old. His funeral was held on January 4th, 2019.
The stand of the Curia may be read as an answer to the doubts about the Catholic funeral of the doctor supporting abortion raised by the Foundation “Pro-Prawo do Życia”. Mariusz Dzierżawski, the president of the Foundation wrote in his letter that “in years 2011-2018 … 783 babies were killed by abortion in the ward directed by Dr. Dębski. 131 babies were killed there in one year only, in 2017.”
“Romuald Dębski” – Dzierżawski added – took part in public debates many times, supporting the admissibility of eugenic abortion, also including babies suspected of having Down syndrome”.
MA
