Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski hosted two rallies Friday to speak out against the contraceptive mandate under President Obama s Affordable Care Act. Miami rally participants Sophia Rosale, Jean Harem, Miles Codias and Teresa San Miguel give their opinions on the issue.
More than 300 people headed to Cuba with the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami Monday morning to celebrate Pope Benedict XVI's historic visit to the island. Priests, nuns, pilgrims and others lined up to check in for two charter flights to Santiago de Cuba at Miami International Airport as part of a delegation led by Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski. "We think that this will be a great religious experience and we hope that it brings more faith and more hope to Cuba," Wenski said. "The pope is a part of that future."
It has been 14 years since Cuba hosted Pope John Paul II in his historic visit to the Communist island. Now Pope Benedict XVI will travel to the Caribbean nation to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the image of Our Lady of Charity, Cuba's patron saint. Although some things have changed since the last Papal visit , the totalitarian government now presided by Raul Castro has not. Archbishop of Miami Thomas Wenski has had a significant role in making this visit happen and has seen some change from when he was there with Pope John Paul II in 1988.
Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski hosted two rallies Friday to speak out against the contraceptive mandate under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
The rallies are being held nationwide by ProLife Action and come as the Supreme Court wrangles to determine the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature domestic legislation, which was passed in 2010. Its decision is expected at the end of June.
Under the Affordable care Act, all employers, including religious churches and schools, are required to provide free contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs under their health plans.
Amid red and white balloons, Wenski led a Miami rally he said was aimed at protecting religious freedom, and fighting the Obama administration’s push to force religious institutions to pay for birth control.
Standing up against the administration's policy which would make churches support something they do not believe in is the only way to preserve religious freedom, the archbishop said.
“In this country we have separation of church and state. But that separation is to protect the church from the state,” he said.
Wenski also spoke Friday in Fort Lauderdale on the issue.
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