He said, “You remind us that people are only truly free when they can practice their faith freely”. In 2012, the sisters filed a lawsuit citing religious freedom concerns since it forces them to pay for birth control and drugs that may cause abortions, which is in direct violation of their religion.
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The Rev. Federico Lombardi said the visit was “connected” to the pope’s remarks delivered earlier that day, in which the pope praised USA bishops for their efforts in defending religious liberty “from everything that would threaten or compromise it”.
The federal government’s requirement that women receive contraceptive coverage without co-payment has sparked dozens of lawsuits, including in the case of Hobby Lobby, which won its case in front of the Supreme Court. Those rules, finalized Friday, extends to closely held corporations, which must meet certain standards, the same type of opt-out clause that HHS offered nonprofits. Their legal struggle is active, even as of this month.
Rienzi, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said the Pope met with about 45 of the nuns and talked about “how caring for the elderly is often a ministry people forget or don’t think is important enough….”
Father Lombardi did not say where, but he noted that the Little Sisters have a convent near the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where Pope Francis celebrated a late afternoon Mass. It is likely that he visited the order just after celebrating the liturgy.
Pope Francis, with Obama at the White House, called religious freedom “one of America’s most precious possessions” and had hearkened to the US bishops’ defense of religious freedom.
The monastery in Ferdinand, Indiana may be hundreds of miles away from where the pope in is Washington D.C., but its nuns feel like they have a front row seat for his visit.
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The last thing the Little Sisters of the Poor want to do is sue somebody. However, the Little Sisters argued that a letter would still violate their conscience because it would enable something they see as wrong to take place. They want to serve the poor and the elderly, and do so in a way that doesnt conflict with their beliefs.We feel strongly about that.
