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Trump’s HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reassures pro-life senators with policy plans

December 18, 2024 Catholic News Agency 0
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, arrives for meetings at the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on Dec. 16, 2024 in Washington, DC. / Credit: Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 18, 2024 / 17:50 pm (CNA).

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reassuring Republican senators that he will back certain pro-life policies if the Senate confirms him to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

In November, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump nominated Kennedy to serve as the United States secretary of the HHS, a position that requires Senate confirmation. HHS oversees 10 agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Kennedy is a former Democrat. He ran for president as an independent in 2024 before dropping out and endorsing Trump. 

Although Kennedy has supported legal abortion for his entire public career, he told pro-life senators in closed-door meetings that he would oppose taxpayer funds for abortion domestically and abroad and restore conscience protections.

“Today I got to sit down with [Kennedy] —  we had a substantive discussion about American healthcare … [and] a good discussion, at length, about pro-life policies at HHS,” Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, said in a series of posts on X.

According to Hawley, Kennedy told him that, if confirmed, he would reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which ends federal funding for overseas organizations that promote abortion. Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy during his first term and said in an October interview with EWTN News that he would consider doing so again in a second term.

Hawley said Kennedy’s plans include “ending taxpayer funding for abortions domestically” and ”reinstating the bar on Title X funds going to organizations that promote abortion.” He said that Kennedy also “pledged to reinstate conscience protections for healthcare providers.”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, told reporters that he and Kennedy also talked about abortion, saying, “The big thing about abortion is that he’s telling everybody … whatever President Trump [supports], I’m going to back him 100%.” 

“Basically, [Kennedy] and President Trump have sat down and talked about it and both of them came to an agreement,” Tuberville said. “Roe v. Wade is gone, [abortion has] gone back to the states. Let the people vote on it.” 

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, told reporters that Kennedy told him he “serves the will of the [incoming] president of the United States and he’ll be pushing his policies forward.”

“[Kennedy’s] first thing is [that] we have too many abortions,” Mullin said. “…His follow up to that is [that he is] serving at the will of the president of the United States. …I think that should clear up that question for anyone.”

Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, said in a post on X that he also spoke with Kennedy about abortion. 

“I had a productive discussion with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. this evening about the future of our nation’s healthcare system, preventing taxpayer-funded abortion, and Americans’ long-term well-being,” Scott said. 

During his independent presidential campaign, Kennedy first endorsed abortion in all stages of pregnancy, including late-term abortion. He later retracted that position and said he would back restrictions at the point of fetal viability. 

Kennedy also said during his campaign that he would support a “massive subsidized day care initiative” to reduce abortion without limiting legal access.

No word on chemical abortions

Tuberville, however, said that he did not speak with Kennedy about chemical abortions, which are regulated by the FDA. Trump himself has said he will not restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone. Chemical abortions account for about half of all abortions in the country. 

The FDA first approved mifepristone to be used in chemical abortions in 2000. Under current law, the drug is approved to abort an unborn child up to 10 weeks’ gestation, at which point the child has a fetal heartbeat, early brain activity, and partially developed eyes, lips, and nostrils.

Mifepristone kills the child by blocking the hormone progesterone, which cuts off the supply of oxygen and nutrients. A second pill, misoprostol, is taken between 24 to 48 hours after mifepristone to induce contractions meant to expel the child’s body from the mother, essentially inducing labor.

Pro-life advocates have been urging the incoming administration to restrict abortion drugs. Many activists have argued that the executive branch could prohibit the delivery of abortion drugs in the mail by enforcing the Comstock Act — a plan that has not been embraced by Trump.

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News Briefs

Ten Commandments tablet surpasses estimates at Sotheby’s despite authenticity questions

December 18, 2024 Catholic News Agency 3
The oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments, dating from 300 to 800 A.D. was sold at Sotheby’s auction house on Dec. 18, 2024, in New York City. Expected to sell for $1-2 million, it went for $5.04 million. Inscribed with the commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script, the tablet was discovered during railroad excavations along the southern coast of Israel in 1913. / Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images

New York City, N.Y., Dec 18, 2024 / 15:40 pm (CNA).

A contentious Ten Commandments tablet has sold at Sotheby’s for $5.04 million — more than twice its high estimate of $2 million. The auction took place on Wednesday in New York City.

Promoted by the auction house as “the earliest surviving inscribed tablet of the Ten Commandments” and purportedly dating to the late Roman-Byzantine era, the marble slab drew intense scrutiny ahead of the sale, with scholars disputing its provenance and authenticity.

According to Sotheby’s, a local worker discovered the roughly 115-pound artifact in 1913 during railway construction in what is now Israel. Unaware of its significance, he reportedly used it as a threshold stone for decades.

It was only in 1943, when scholar Jacob Kaplan acquired the tablet, that its potential importance as a Samaritan Decalogue emerged. Sotheby’s relied partly on this narrative and the object’s wear as indicators of its antiquity.

Some experts remained unconvinced. 

“It may or may not be ancient,” said Christopher Rollston, the chairman of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at George Washington University in an interview with CNA. 

“Sotheby’s has not done its due diligence with this piece, and I find that to be deeply problematic.” Rollston argued that while Sotheby’s cites wear patterns as evidence of age, decades of use as a doorway threshold alone could account for the stone’s abrasion.

The oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments, dating from 300 to 800 A.D., sold at Sotheby's auction house on Dec. 18, 2024, in New York City for over $5 million. Inscribed with the commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script, the tablet was discovered during railroad excavations along the southern coast of Israel in 1913. Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images
The oldest known stone tablet inscribed with the Ten Commandments, dating from 300 to 800 A.D., sold at Sotheby’s auction house on Dec. 18, 2024, in New York City for over $5 million. Inscribed with the commandments in Paleo-Hebrew script, the tablet was discovered during railroad excavations along the southern coast of Israel in 1913. Credit: Spencer Platt / Getty Images

In a recent blog post for The Times of Israel, Rollston also noted that the tablet omits the commandment forbidding the misuse of God’s name — a precept included in the Samaritan Pentateuch. 

He suggested that such deviations might be intentional “surprising content” introduced by forgers to stoke interest. “For 150 years, and indeed much longer than that…forgers have been producing fake inscriptions with surprising content,” Rollston wrote in the blog.

Sotheby’s defended its process. “Sotheby’s regularly undertakes due diligence procedures to authenticate and determine the provenance of property prior to accepting it for sale, and the research into this property was no different,” a spokesperson said before the sale.

The house emphasized that the tablet “was also seen by scholars who had the opportunity to inspect it first-hand” and has appeared in scholarly publications since 1947 without prior challenges to its authenticity.

The strong price underscores the ongoing tension between market demand for rare antiquities and persistent legal, ethical, and academic debates about how such objects are vetted. 

“Auction houses don’t have any specific legal obligations to verify authenticity and provenance,” said Patty Gerstenblith, Distinguished Research Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Art, Museum & Cultural Heritage Law at DePaul University. “The auction house typically owes a fiduciary obligation to the consignor, not the buyer.”

If doubts arise after a sale, buyers face hurdles. “If the artifact turns out not to be authentic or not to have lawful provenance, the purchaser may be able to sue the auction house,” Gerstenblith said, noting that such claims often hinge on whether the auction house’s assertions amounted to a warranty or were made fraudulently.

While the $5.04 million result indicates robust interest in this piece of purported biblical heritage, the scholarly skepticism voiced by experts like Rollston suggests the tablet’s true legacy — and its place in the historical record — may remain the subject of vigorous debate.

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The Dispatch

The beauty and power of the O Antiphons

December 16, 2024 Catholic News Agency 0
Advent wreath St. Catherine’s Church in Bethlehem / Credit: Marinella Bandini

National Catholic Register, Dec 16, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).

“O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O Israel!”

This favored Christmas carol is no carol at all. It’s a hymn for the season of Advent — the liturgical season that is about so much more than simply preparing for Christmas. 

During these short four weeks, the Church has historically focused on Our Lord Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of all prophecy and human yearning as she anticipates not only the celebration of his incarnation at Christmas but also as she waits in hope for his glorious return at the end of time.

The verses of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” are taken from seven ancient antiphons that the Church has used in her evening prayer liturgy since well before the ninth century. Every year, from Dec. 17 to Dec. 23, the Church’s liturgy enters a more intense and proximate preparation for Christ’s coming at Christmas. This shift is noticeable in the readings at Mass during these days but also in the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours, specifically at evening prayer. Every evening during that week, the Church prays one of what have become known as the great “O Antiphons” before reciting Our Lady’s “Magnificat” canticle.

The O Antiphons invoke Our Lord using imagery taken from the Old Testament: “O Wisdom From on High”; “O Lord of the House of Israel”; “O Root of Jesse’s Stem”; “O Key of David”; “O Radiant Dawn”; “O King of the Nations”; and “O Emmanuel.” To these biblical images are added various pleas such as: “Come to teach us the path of knowledge!”; “Come to save us without delay!”; and “Come and free the prisoners of darkness!”

Each of these O Antiphons is a beautiful prayer in itself, but each also demonstrates exactly how the Church has come to understand Christ’s relationship to the promises and images of God so prevalent in the Old Testament.

“O Wisdom From on High!”

Isaiah prophesied that a shoot would sprout from the stump of Jesse. One of Jesse’s heirs would be a messianic figure and redeemer for Israel.

“The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding” (Is 11:1-2). Because Isaiah’s prophecies look forward so expectantly to the redemption of Israel and the whole world in the great promises of God, he is particularly the prophet of the season of Advent.

Christ, however, is more than the Anointed One. St. Paul told the Church in Corinth that “Christ [is] the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24). Christ is the Wisdom that the Book of Proverbs speaks of as God’s artisan and delight (Proverbs 8). The Eternally Begotten Son is always the delight of the Father and the Artisan through whom all things were made.

Perhaps a more poignant instance of a powerful Old Testament image of the divine is the Dec. 18 antiphon: “O Lord of the House of Israel, giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai.” The events recounted in the Book of Exodus are magnificently tremendous, from the burning bush to the parting of the Red Sea to the giving of the Law to Moses at a Mount Sinai covered in thunder and lightning.

The Church Fathers routinely noted Christ’s presence in God’s various manifestations to the Israelites. St. Justin Martyr recalled: “The same One, who is both angel and God, and Lord and man, and who appeared in human form to Abraham and Isaac, [also] appeared in a flame of fire from the bush and conversed with Moses.”

St. Gregory of Nyssa comments on the events of the desert — the clouds, the thunder, and the tabernacle of God’s presence — “Taking a hint from what has been said by Paul, who partially uncovered the mystery of these things, we say that Moses was earlier instructed by a type in the mystery of the tabernacle which encompasses the universe.” This tabernacle, Christ the Son of God, he continues, “is in a way both unfashioned and fashioned, uncreated in preexistence but created in having received this material composition.”

The preexisting Eternal Son of God who is the perfect image of God is also the presence of God in the flaming bush, on Mount Sinai and perfectly in his incarnation.

It is not surprising, therefore, that the Latin version of this antiphon begins with “O Adonai,” borrowing the Hebrew word God-fearing Jews speak when reading the Torah to avoid speaking the proper name of God himself — it is the name Lord, the name St. Paul tells the Philippians was bestowed on Christ because he did not deem equality with God something to be grasped, but rather emptied himself unto death (cf. Philippians 2:6-11). Jesus Christ is Adonai. He is Kyrios. He is the Lord.

Finally, other O Antiphons identify Christ as the fulfillment of Israel’s greatness and human longing. He is the Oriens, the dawn that Isaiah promised would rise upon God’s chosen people (Isaiah 60:1-2). He is also the Root of Jesse. So he is not only the fulfillment but the beginning of the Israelite lineage.

He is the Creator and the One through whom David’s lineage came to be. So Christ is both the beginning and end of the promise to David. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the One the Old Testament predicts will rule as king of all the nations.

The O Antiphons are much more than simple refrains to be chanted before Our Lady’s Magnifcat or to serve as verses in an Advent hymn. They reveal the mysteries of Christ already being revealed in the power and glory of God in the Old Testament.

St. Thomas Aquinas was right to insist that many of the great prophets of Israel had real and explicit prophetic knowledge of Jesus and his mysteries even though they lived hundreds of years before the Incarnation. “Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day,” Jesus himself once preached. “He saw it, and he was glad” (Jn 8:56). Christ is active in Israel. He is in the Old Testament.

These great antiphons remind us that there is so much more to Advent than preparing for Christmas. They remind us that Christ is the focal point of salvation history, and, in fact, of all world history, because he is Emmanuel — “God with us.”

The wisdom of God is exactly such that the Lord creates us to be in relationship with him in order to bring light not only to our lives but to the world. Every year the Church gives us these four weeks so that we might remember in an intense way what we should be living every day: in preparation, anticipation, and joyful hope that the Lord will come to us and save us.

O Emmanuel, Our King and Giver of Law: Come to save us, Lord Our God!

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.

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