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By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter
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SCRANTON – Call it the circle of pro-life.

Martino (left), Santorum (right)

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Casey

AP

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In an unusual juxtaposition of media and message Thursday, an ex U.S. senator praised a current bishop who, at the same time, criticized the man who had taken that ex-senator’s legislative seat.

And it was all over something the three purportedly agree on: abortion.

The Diocese of Scranton’s tri-weekly newspaper, The Catholic Light, published a letter by Bishop Joseph Martino to U.S. Sen. Robert Casey. The letter took Casey to task for supporting and, as it claimed, misrepresenting what has been called the “Mexico City Policy.”

The policy has been a partisan political football since President Ronald Reagan first implemented it in 1984 (in Mexico City, thus the name).

In a nutshell, it barred organizations receiving U.S. foreign aid from performing or promoting abortion. President Bill Clinton overturned it, President George W. Bush restored it, and President Barack Obama reversed the ban again on Jan. 23.

Martino had penned a Jan. 30 letter to Casey on the topic, and his new letter insists the first “was in no way mistaken regarding the nature and effect” of rescinding the policy.

The letter also says its “imperative that there be utter clarity when it comes to the teaching of the Church on matters that pertain to the taking of innocent life and the special responsibilities that fall to you, Senator, as a lawmaker to oppose abortion and other evils.”

The same day that letter was published in The Catholic Light, The Philadelphia Inquirer published an op-ed piece by former Sen. Rick Santorum, the man Casey defeated to get to Washington. Santorum has become a recurring contributor to the Inquirer.

His piece begins by recounting a statement issued by the Vatican after Pope Benedict met with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a Catholic who has, by Santorum and others’ account, misstated Catholic teachings on when life begins.

“Sadly,” Santorum wrote, “the church hierarchy has been less assertive when public figures’ policy positions openly dissent from core teachings.”

Then he cited Martino’s unequivocal statements regarding the abortion stances of Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Casey. “He warned that Casey was ‘formally cooperating with evil’” by voting to give tax money to “overseas organizations that perform abortions,” Santorum wrote.

Santorum did not mention Martino’s latest letter to Casey, presumably because it had not yet been made public. The ex-senator did, however, recount Martino’s well-documented admonishment of Misericordia University’s Diversity Institute and his warning to three Irish organizations over potential – but not actual -- honorees on St. Patrick’s Day.

Santorum dubs Martino one of a new breed of “uncompromising defenders of the faith,” who “knows his job and his calling: to be the good shepherd who faithfully leads and protects his flock from those who would lead them astray.”

He also says it is a “blessing to have people leave the church because of a bishop who enforces its teaching,” rather than a bishop who doesn’t “teach, much less enforce, those teachings.”

Casey didn’t join the fray in print. By evening there were no responses or comments posted on his Web site.

Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7161