Obama Is Not Pro-abortion

[KnightofChrist]

[url="http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=16067"]Editor of Vatican newspaper says ‘Obama is not pro-abortion’[/url]

Rome, Italy, May 20, 2009 / 06:24 pm (CNA).- The Editor-in-chief of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano explained today to Paulo Rodari, a Vatican analyst for the daily “Il Riformista,” that President Barack Obama’s speech to graduates of Notre Dame was very respectful and that he “is not a pro-abortion president.”

In the interview with Rodari, Editor-in-chief Gian Maria Vian discussed his thoughts on President Obama at the University of Notre Dame. “Obama has not upset the world,” he said. “His speech at Notre Dame has been respectful toward every position. He tried to engage the debate stepping out from every ideological position and outside every ‘confrontational mentality.’ To this extent his speech is to be appreciated.”

Vian continued, “Let me be clear, L’Osservatore stands where the American bishops are: we consider abortion a disaster. We must promote, always and at every level a ‘culture of life’.”

“What I want to stress is that yesterday, on this precise and very delicate issue, the President said that the approval of the new law on abortion is not a priority of his administration. The fact that he said that is very reassuring to me. It also underlines my own clear belief:[b] Obama is not a pro-abortion president,[/b]” he told Rodari.

Continuing the interview, Rodari stressed that L' Osservatore Romano ran two different stories on the same issue, one positive about Obama's speech at Notre Dame, the other extremely critical about his embryonic stem cell research position which quoted the concerns of the USCCB.

Vian answered: “This is our policy, the way we inform. If a national bishops’ conference says something, we report it.” However, she continued, it is “appropriate to present other perspectives” to the readers so they can accurately judge "international information.”

According to Rodari, "the words of Vian are important. Because they speak about a confrontation between Obama and the Catholic Church which for now seems to be limited mainly among part of the American episcopate. A confrontation that the Holy See neither approves nor disapproves. Simply observes."

[eagle_eye222001]

I'm kinda shocked and curious.

I trust Pope Benedict XVI knows what he is doing though.

----------------
Now playing: [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/artist/the+almost/track/say+this+sooner"]The Almost - Say This Sooner[/url]
via [url="http://www.foxytunes.com/signatunes/"]FoxyTunes[/url]

[KnightofChrist]

I trust the Holy Pontiff too, but this seemly appears to be yet another scandalous public rebellion against him and the Church.

[CatherineM]

I wonder what he meant by, "He tried to engage the debate.." It was my understanding that abortion was no longer open to debate for Catholics. By calling it a debate, we open ourselves up to debate where there can be none. Maybe this was just a bad translation to English. Why exactly do you have to provide alternative perspectives in a Catholic paper? Cant' we have one thing that speaks nothing but the truth?

[Resurrexi]

Obviously, L’Osservatore Romano doesn't necessarily reflect all the opinions of the Holy Father, nor is it the official Vatican gazette.

[Ash Wednesday]

[img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/Betterterm/bobbarkerfail.jpg[/img]

[XIX]

Yeah.

Next he's going to say that Socrates isn't a fiscal conservative because moral issues are at the top of his priority list.

[Socrates]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' post='1872853' date='May 21 2009, 05:11 PM']“What I want to stress is that yesterday, on this precise and very delicate issue, the President said that the approval of the new law on abortion is not a priority of his administration. The fact that he said that is very reassuring to me. It also underlines my own clear belief:[b] Obama is not a pro-abortion president,[/b]” he told Rodari.[/quote]
Obama's senate voting record and actions as president clearly say otherwise.

Makes you wonder what rock this so-called "journalist" has spent the past year or so sleeping under.

Guess we're supposed to judge Obama's abortion policy on one speech to a Catholic audience and ignore everything else he's said and done regarding abortion.

Obviously, this newspaper editor is not part of the Magisterium, but expect plenty of American liberals to start twisting this to say the Vatican officially supports Obama and his policies.

[quote name='XIX' post='1872912' date='May 21 2009, 07:31 PM']Yeah.

Next he's going to say that Socrates isn't a fiscal conservative because moral issues are at the top of his priority list.[/quote]
I'm actually flattered (if that's referring to me, and not the ancient Greek philosopher).

[scardella]

In other news, water is NOT wet.

[VoTeckam]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' post='1872853' date='May 21 2009, 07:11 PM']“His speech at Notre Dame has been respectful toward every position. He tried to engage the debate stepping out from every ideological position and outside every ‘confrontational mentality.’ "[/quote]


Say wha? "His speach... has been respectful toward every position." ?!?!

1) His [i]speach[/i] might have been respectful toward every position but his actions have not been.

2) When he is not pandering to a quasi-catholic audience not even his speach is respectful regarding this topic.

3) As CatherineM said, this is no longer up for Debate as far as the Church is concerned so why on earth would we applaud Obama for "opening" one?


I am baffled.

[Sirklawd]

[quote name='KnightofChrist' post='1872853' date='May 21 2009, 05:11 PM']In the interview with Rodari, Editor-in-chief Gian Maria Vian discussed his thoughts on President Obama at the University of Notre Dame. “Obama has not upset the world,” he said. “His speech at Notre Dame has been respectful toward every position. He tried to engage the debate stepping out from every ideological position and outside every ‘confrontational mentality.’ To this extent his speech is to be appreciated.”[/quote]

That's the problem isn't it. Obama-lovers like this seem to just listen to speeches...speeches so clearly engineered and tailored to the specific crowd at hand...

I wonder what they would say about the speech he gave to planned parenthood in 2007 where he promised to sign FOCA.

I can already see this writer covering his ears with his hands "lalalalala"

[farglefeezlebut]

If you do not take active steps to prevent abortion, you are pro-abortion.

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
Desmond Tutu

It is all very well saying that he respects the rights of those who oppose abortion to follow their consciences (and he does deserve [i]some[/i] kudos for this, because a lot of pro-"choice" people refuse to even go that far), but he ignores that if you're a fetus, the right to free speech doesn't mean an awful lot. Free speech is only useful to those who have a voice. The right to speak your mind can only be excercised by those who are given the right to live long enough to speak.

I do respect Obama for having thw courage to say "No matter how much we may want to fudge it - indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory - the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable." I also don't want people's views reduced to a caricature. Most pro-"choice" people wouldn't even think about harming a newborn baby. It is not that they hate baies and want to murder them. It's that they don't recognise the humanity of the pre-born children. But that doesn't make the act any less despicable. If I am murdered by someone who has been brainwashed into believing that people with brown eyes aren't human, it is no comfort to me that the person in question was nice to people who didn't have brown eyes. The fact that "they know not what hey do" does not render the victim any less dead.

I am glad that Obama wishes to reduce the number of abortions, and I hope his plans to do so work. I will support any scheme to help pregnant women in crisis.

One thing I was disappointed that Obama didn't discuss was the issue of the abortion of children with disabilities. I am disabled due to an injury, so this is an issue of paticular interest to me. Obama does have some very good policies on diability, which help disabled individuals to be integrated into education and work, instead of being isolated and dependant on handouts. He has also repeatedly affirmed to equal dignity and worth of disabled people. (McCain did have some good policies WRT disabled schoolkids and disabled veterans, but he seemed to ignore other disabled people.)

Disabled people are often treated as not being valuable or having innate human dignity. This is part of the reason that abortion rates for fetuses who test positive for Down's Syndrome are so high. Obama's affirmation that people with disabilities are people, and his policies to allow us to be treated as humans and not burdens may do something to reduce the abortion rate. However, he does not seem to recognise that his support for abortion tacitly acknowledges that it is acceptable to decide that a disabled child's life is worthless before the child has even been born.

That said, I would rather be ruled by Obama than by Gordon Brown or David Cameron, because he at least acknowledges being anti-abortion as an acceptable stance, rather than labelling it pure bigotry. All the major parties here in he UK are pro-abortion, although there are a few individual pro-life MPs who dissent on both the left and the right. The only explicitly anti-abortion party is the BNP. However, I could never vote for them. They are holocaust deniers. They believe that rape should be legalised, because in the words of one of their candidates "I've never understood why so many men have allowed themselves to be brainwashed by the feminazi myth machine into believing that rape is such a serious crime ... Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal." They would not allow any asylum seekers into the UK. They insist that white people should be given preferential treatment and that employers should hire white people even if they are not the best candidates, because British jobs should be for British workers, and black and Asian people are not truly British, even if they were born here, are 3rd/4th/ 5th/10th generation, speak English as their first language and have never thought of any other country as home.

I am not looking forward to voting in the next election.

[RemnantRules]

[quote name='scardella' post='1873204' date='May 22 2009, 07:59 AM']In other news, water is NOT wet.[/quote]

[the lords sheep]

It makes me want to look him up, find him, and knock some sense into him!

As a side note, you should be careful when listening to Italians about politics, as their political system is madness. In the year I've lived here, I've found their views to be VERY skewed- the media here is even more pro-Obama than the US media, which is saying something...

[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' post='1872910' date='May 21 2009, 08:27 PM'][img]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/Betterterm/bobbarkerfail.jpg[/img][/quote]
That's a hilarious picture. And I love how it looks like Bob is sneering.