Word: vatican
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...course the differences are not just in the humble body language but in hard policy. To a large degree, the deck has flipped from the Bush era: the Obama Administration's focus on dialogue-centric, multilateral foreign policy is to the Vatican's liking, while its support of abortion rights and stem-cell research are a deep worry after the Pope's having had an ally on bioethics in the White House for eight years...
...during the oddly scheduled Friday afternoon meeting, crammed between the end of the Group of 8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, and Obama's departure for Ghana, the Pope had no intention of papering over differences on what the Vatican calls "life" issues, such as abortion and euthanasia. While reporters and photographers waited in a narrow Vatican corridor outside the library during the private audience, the Pope's personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Ganswein, disclosed that there was one item added to the list of gifts for Obama: "Dignitas Personae" ("The Dignity of a Person"), a Vatican document released in December...
...recent uproar in the U.S. Catholic Church over the President's invitation to give the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame. Some Catholic bishops opposed to the invitation because of Obama's stance on abortion and other ethical issues had hoped in vain that the Vatican would join the fray. "There was a feeling that [the Pope] didn't back them up over Notre Dame," said Whelan. "He wanted to show them that he wouldn't shy away from these issues in front of Obama." (See photos: "The Pope Visits the Holy Land...
...Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters after the audience that it was important for the Pope to be clear about the Church's stance on ethical issues. "It would be ambiguous to hide or minimize what we believe," he said. "It's not meant to be divisive or polemical." Lombardi added that the Pope told him that Obama "explicitly expressed his commitment to reducing the numbers of abortions and to listen to the Church's concerns on moral issues...
Still, beyond the private talk, Obama's visit to the Vatican - in which the President's wife and daughters also got a private tour of St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel - is one of the key encounters of his first year in office. It gives him the chance not only to solidify support from U.S. Catholic voters at home but also to spread his new American gospel to the world...