The Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues (PNCI) reports on an article in the December issue of First Things which quotes Lord Nicholas Windsor, first male blood member of the British royal family to be received into the Catholic Church since King Charles II on his deathbed in 1685 as saying that abortion of unborn children is "the single most grievous moral deficit in contemporary life".He rightfully recognizes the role of elected leaders in enabling the destruction of abortion and challenges the political establishment to recognize that abortion is "one of the gravest and most egregious abuses of human rights that human society has ever tolerated". He confronts the embedding of abortion in modern culture, which has rendered abortion to be "normalized" and "invisible to politics in Europe" and continues to state that "it has become the first taboo of the culture."The great-grandson of King George V penned the essay "Caesar's Thumb: Europeans should not forget their most pressing moral issue: abortion" in the December edition of First Things and reflects on modern European society's acceptance of abortion. Lord Nicholas recognizes the toll abortion takes on women and other individuals: "This is a historically unprecedented cascade of destruction wrought on individuals: on sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, future spouses and friends, mothers and fathers - destroyed in the form of those to whom we owe, quite simply and certainly, the greatest solidarity and duty of care because they are the weakest and most dependent of our fellow humans."
The gravity of the abortion decision on the lives of millions of children around the world is recognized by Lord Nicholas: "The sophistry is overwhelming: If I choose and desire my child, then ipso facto I have granted it the right to live, and it will live. But the inverse is equally the case, by means of nothing more or less than my choice: Caesar's thumb is up, or Caesar's thumb is down. And when it comes to exporting this idea, we do it with zeal and determination through such institutions as the United Nations and the European Union."
Lord Nicholas addresses the impact of abortion on Europe: "The granting to ourselves of the right wantonly to kill, each year, millions of our offspring at the beginning of their lives: This is the question of questions for Europe.
The practice of abortion is a mortal wound in Europe's heart, in the center of Hellenic and Judeo-Christian culture."
In conclusion, the royal addresses the present need to"creatively envisage new and compelling answers to the problems that give rise to this practice, when the easiest solutions may be destructive or distorting ones." He equates abortion to the great moral and social evil of slavery and calls for a new effort dedicated to ending abortion stating, "Having so recklessly carried this poison out of the twentieth-the ugliest of all centuries-let us, for the sake of all that has been good and beautiful and true about the culture of the West, be clear that there is an urgent moral priority here. Call it a "New Abolitionism for Europe..."
PNCI commends Lord Nicholas Windsor for his coverage in boldly speaking out for the culture of life and for calling on political leaders of our day to work to ensure a "thumb's up" for the lives of children in the womb. PNCI looks forward to working with Lord and Lady Windsor on the New Abolitionism in Europe.
Historical perspective
Lord Nicholas Windsor forfeited his line of succession when he converted to Catholicism and put his faith first in his life despite the high prize he would have to pay. The Act of Settlement of 1700 bars past or present Roman Catholics, and those who marry Roman Catholics, from succession.
His marriage to Paola Doimi de Frankopan in St. Peter's was the first British royal wedding to take place at the Vatican since the 16th century break with the Vatican. A number of British MPs welcomed the marriage in 2006 with an Early Day Motion as "the first legal and public marriage within the rites of the Roman Catholic Church of a member of the Royal Family since 1554 and the marriage of Queen Mary I to Philip II of Spain."
The baptisms of sons Albert and Leopold at St. Peter's were the first British royal baptisms since the Reformation. By their Catholic baptisms, Albert and Leopold also lose their place in the royal succession. Upon Albert's Baptism, an Early Day Motion welcomed his Baptism noting "that he was the first member of the Royal Family to be Baptised a Catholic since 1688 and the so-called Glorious Revolution when James II was chased away from his Crown and country on account of the Baptism of his son, the Old Pretender."
