| Vatican Obstructs Pro-Obama Spin on Papal Visit |
| by Deal W. Hudson |
| 7/11/09 |
Obama got what he wanted -- the perception of a warm, cordial welcome from the head of the Roman Catholic Church. Benedict XVI also got what he wanted: A meeting with the still-popular Obama who supports some of his aims -- particularly in the Middle East -- and an opportunity to remind Obama that life issues still top the list of Catholic concerns, regardless of the president's fondness of Cardinal Bernardin's "seamless garment." Immediately after the meeting, the Vatican issued a statement making it clear that abortion and bioethics were the first things the pope discussed with the president. As if to add an exclamation point to that discussion, Benedict XVI gave Obama an "unannounced"gift, a copy of the 2008 bioethics document, "Dignitas Personae," which carries the opening line:
These gestures made it impossible for Obama's supporters to put an overly-enthusiastic spin on the meeting. The White House discovered that the Vatican has its own resources when it comes to handling the media, in spite of all its recent snafus in that department. Someone made sure the Vatican controlled the message and, as a result, all of the coverage I have seen has been quite balanced and reasonable. I think that the president made one mistake in his meeting with the pope: Obama, once again, brought up his promise of abortion reduction. This puts him on the public record with the Holy Father, something that may come back to haunt him later. No one really believes the nonsense about abortion reduction, certainly not prelates like Cardinal Regali who has already pointed out how it contradicts Obama's plan to provide federal funding for abortions in Washington, D.C. It has already been pointed out that Obama's real promise is to reduce the "need" for abortion by reducing poverty among mothers who seek abortion for economic reasons. Thus, the Obama administration does not have to target abortion per se, but only pursue his anti-poverty programs. With a 10% unemployment rate, and climbing, even if there is a strong correlation between poverty and abortion, the Obama plan won't be bearing fruit anytime soon. Abortion is more about ideology than economics. Obama has loudly articulated that ideology his entire career, as have all his appointees. There is every reason to believe that abortions will increase during his presidency, much to the delight of supporters like NARAL and Planned Parenthood.
Readers have left 14 comments. I don't think anyone with a basic moral compass (regardless of the stance on abortion) "delights" in an increase of abortions. Now, one can say anyone who supports abortion doesn't have a basic moral compass and around and around we go. Organizations who support abortion rights are not trying to increase the procedure.  Written by Ron Cowie Ron, I respectfully disagree with you. Money is a huge driving factor why abortionists and abortion groups want abortions to increase. It is a very lucrative field as are most elective procedures. If they did not want an increase in abortions, they would not pay for yellow pages space, Google ads, and other ways of increasing customers. Abortionists are not in it for altruistic means, but for the money. And anyone in it for the money attempts to increase their customer base. The other thing that more abortions gain is more acceptance of abortion. While women who have had abortions and regret it enough to seek it outlawed exist, they are probably in the vast minority. I think most would support keeping it legal, if even reluctantly, because it was legal when they "needed it". So, if you increase the number of abortions, you increase the likelihood of it remaining legal. Written by Joshua Hi Ron, With all due respect, it doesn't seem that you've heard what many pro-choice supporters are really saying. Just in the past few months, we've seen a number of religious women write articles glorifying abortion as something close to a sacrament that actually is good for women, for relationships, and for children. There was the Catholic pro-choice DRE of a parish who wrote on a pro-choice Catholic blog that thanked God for allowing her to have an abortion and for giving all women the right to make that decision, which would "be blessed by God" if they were doing it for "unselfish" reasons; the Anglican (or was it Episcopalian?) woman priest who preached that abortion is beautiful and a delight to God; and that's just the rhetoric from the religious abortion rights advocates. Then we can listen to bizarre lines of logic from secular supporters of abortion like Justice Ginsburg's interview this week with the NYT Magazine to read how abortion was seen as a way to reduce the numbers in undesirable populations in the US. It's simply self-deception to claim that many abortion supporters don't want to see the number of abortions increase. No, not all abortion-rights supporters are this extreme by any means, but they are also the ones who don't realize just how extreme the loudest abortion-rights supporters are. As Christians, even for those who dissent from various areas of Church teaching (not saying that you do, Ron, but making a general statement for those who do dissent openly on specific matters, generally sex- or feminism-related areas), we must be honest about our desires and our motivations. These are often grounded in our own sinful natures as human beings, and the more open we are to recognizing that sin, the more we cooperate with the Holy Spirit and the Grace He provides in order to conquer those sinful thoughts and actions. Written by Kevin in Texas Respectfully, if the Germans had set up little Gas Chambers for Jews on every corner in every city across their country, right in front of the German people, would they perhaps still exist today? You know clean sterile chambers --- right inside and up next to health clinics? Abortion is MURDER and one is too many..... You can't have legally operating gas chambers and hope that the need will go away..... We have already murdered 50 million Americans, I am not an economist, but has anyone ever put an age on these babies and what their impact would have been? I'm sorry, but shame on the Catholics who are blind to this and how dare anyone put a Murderous Rapist's life as equal to an innocent unborn baby!!! Last I read, Jesus only interrupted one capital punishment, Mary Magdalene's.. he let the two hang right next to Him on the cross. I think that we have successfully reduced Capital punishment-- in my opinion too far so that the rule, what you tolerate, multiplies, is now playing out. We know that God values lives differently too when we see the mention of a crown for Virgins and a crown for martyrs..."whatever you do for the least of my children, you do it for Me" ... just google an aborted fetus whenever you slip in your understanding of who in this country is considered "the least"... and they are of every race... God open our eyes as You did about slavery in this country... Lord at least there were alive slaves that could cry up to Heaven to you and March and organize and compel....please God, please remove this selfish veil from our eyes as a Nation... that all those who see will cry for the LIFE of these babies,March, email every day, compel every time they have a chance-- to RESTORE LIFE as the only choice for the unborn baby. Written by Mother of Two Sons I have to politely disagree also with the first comment. Abortion is seen as a good. In fact, the DNC took the "rare" part out of the platform on Obama's arrival. Written by Ann Abortion is seen as a fundamental human right by people like Obama. When was the last time anyone sincere went around saying they were going to reduce fundamental human rights? Obama's double speak on abortion is meant to pacify opponents long enough so that he can defeat them or at least render them impotent. People like Obama want to increase abortion as one of their means of population control. Deal has called this one correctly. Obama will continue to purchase key Catholic supporters for his cause. Look for him to target Federal funding to Catholic institutions. Remember, the Catholic Church through its institutions and charities is by far the single largest nonprofit recipient of Federal funding. Federal dollars will continue to flow to those that support him or at least are silent. The well will dry up and investigations will begin for those that oppose him. Written by Gil Garza Maybe its because I haven't hit 30 yet, but I believe Obama is sincere in his intentions. I have a little bit of faith - not a lot, because there is always my inner cynic - but a little, that his life-long exposure to Catholicism through his community work will one day have an impact on his soul. I do not believe for a moment that he is some sort of abortion fanatic. I've met abortion fanatics - I've known abortion fanatics. They are not interested in finding common ground, in cooperating in areas where there might be cooperation, in giving the other side a fair hearing - all things that Obama does. We can't expect to always inhabit a society where our views prevail. But it should be worth something that this time around we have a president who does and will listen to those who repsectfully disagree. We have to admit that there are decent people who are pro-choice for various reasons; they are wrong, but I can't bring myself to be uncharitable towards a person who is charitable towards me. Jesus blessed a Roman centurion, an oppressor of his people, the chosen people. He blessed the tax collectors that many Jews hated and despised. Its a far cry from endorsing what they do and apologizing for it. But I do think it is a necessary step. Written by Joe H Ron, — JoshuaI respectfully disagree with you. Money is a huge driving factor why abortionists and abortion groups want abortions to increase. It is a very lucrative field as are most elective procedures. If they did not want an increase in abortions, they would not pay for yellow pages space, Google ads, and other ways of increasing customers. Abortionists are not in it for altruistic means, but for the money. And anyone in it for the money attempts to increase their customer base. The other thing that more abortions gain is more acceptance of abortion. While women who have had abortions and regret it enough to seek it outlawed exist, they are probably in the vast minority. I think most would support keeping it legal, if even reluctantly, because it was legal when they "needed it". So, if you increase the number of abortions, you increase the likelihood of it remaining legal. Great points, Joshua. And, it's exactly because abortions are a very lucrative business that the leaders of the Republican Party haven't actually ever done anything for the last few decades to make abortion illegal. Oh, and the unmistakably effusively warm welcome our president received from everyone at the Vatican, and the fact that there is no evidence that the Pope and President Obama had anything other than a cordial and positive meeting is turning out to be a huge disappointment to more-Catholic-than-the-Pope Republican Catholics. The Vatican obstructed nothing but partisan Republican wishes for the impossible, that the Pope and Obama would engage in something less than a mutually respectful and productive meeting. Written by Charles Charles, I'm happy with how the meeting went. The pope made it clear to Obama that the life issues are paramount - both through words at the meeting and through his gift of a copy of a Vatican document on bioethics that hardened the church's opposition to using embryos for stem cell research, cloning and in-vitro fertilization. What good would it have done for the pope to refuse to meet Obama? Should a priest only provide spiritual guidance to those who are pro-life? Did Jesus only preach to or dine with the righteous? Those who read the news coverage can clearly see that the pope is not giving a free pass to Obama on abortion or other life issues. There are areas where Republicans differ from the Catholic Church and there are areas where Democrats differ from the Catholic Church. I will continue to pray for the conversion of the hearts of both. Written by Joshua Hi Charles, It seems you are choosing to view the meeting between Obama and Benedict through a very narrow, politics-only lens. This is a common mistake made by partisan political Catholics, and as the Popes continually demonstrate, they represent a faith that is 2,000 years old and transcends political classifications. The Pope and the President met and spoke about political topics, yes, but I am most certain that the Pope had no truck with either conservative or liberal political minds in that meeting. Rather, he stood for the Truth as the vicar of Christ on Earth. For those who wish to view the meeting, or for that matter, the Pope's latest encyclical, God knows there is plenty there for both conservatives and liberals to chew on. Once we stop being so politics-minded and start trying to have an interior conversion to Christ ourselves, we start to receive the grace that God offers us to think with the Church. Enough is enough with trying to define the Pope as a politician, which is an infinitesimally small part of his larger and greater role as the first among equals in shepherding the souls won by the Church for Christ. Written by Kevin in Texas Joshua, Please accept my apologies. My 2nd and 3rd paragraphs were directed at Mr. Hudson's commentary above, not at you or yours. Written by Charles I should have written that the Vatican inadvertently obstructed partisan Republic wishes. I believe that concerning U.S. politics, the Vatican and the popes are apolitical, unlike several U.S. bishops, archbishops and cardinals. Written by Charles Yes, you have a point, Charles, that the Holy Father avoids political labelling, as he should. As to whether US bishops are political partisans, I don't know if that's a valid criticism. (For that matter, this could apply to bishops anywhere in the world, really.) Bishops are human beings and have their own political beliefs and ideologies, which they are certainly allowed to have as US citizens. However, there should be little ideology in their exercise of their teaching and leadership roles as spiritual fathers of their flocks. I suppose if US bishops wanted a sign they were doing their jobs well, they would be both lauded and jeered from both ends of the ideological spectrum from time to time, not getting too comfortably settled into one niche group or the other. To my mind, a bishop who doesn't make everybody feel uncomfortable once in a while is NOT fulfilling his role as a bishop to the level he is called by the Church and by Christ. It's telling to note when conservatives and liberals decry specific bishops for becoming "too overtly political." However, those cries tell us much more about the ideologies of the complainants than they do of the bishops, assuming the bishops stir up both sides equally! Written by Kevin in Texas As others have noted above, many on the Left (though not all, of course) do wish to increase the number of abortions because they see it as a right, and that's what we do with rights we support--try to increase the frequency with which people exercise them. The assumption is that the more people who exercise a right, be it voting or gun ownership or abortion, the less likely it is to be taken away. So they're bound to push for higher numbers and cheer when they happen, whether they realize it or not. There are also those who see higher numbers of abortions as a positive on zero-population grounds. For them, any legal means of reducing the population is a Good Thing. There's also a eugenics aspect to it, although they'd never use that word. Written by Aaron |
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