L’Osservatore Romano article on Notre Dame and Pres. Obama

The article in L’Osservatore Romano has raised a lot of suspicious eyebrows.

You see… it is not just the text it is the use also of the photo.

For more read this and this and this.

Click for larger version.

I haven’t had time to transcribe it.  Maybe you can organize yourselves and work cooperatively.

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24 Comments

  1. Joey says:

    The search for common ground: it appears that this is the path chosen by US President Barack Obama in affronting the delicate question of abortion. Putting aside the heated tones of the electoral campaign, Obama affirmed as much yesterday on the occasion of the press conference for his [first] hundered days in the White House, when he affirmed that the launch of the new law on abortion is not a priority of his administration. And to reaffirm this position, the president chose the ceremony for the conferral of a doctorate of law honoris causa from Notre Dame in Indiana, the most prestigious Catholic college in the United States.

    Increasing controversies have marked the weeks following Obama’s invitation from university president John Jenkins. And also yesterday–as it was predictible–protests were not lacking. But from the podium prepared in the basketball stadium, the president invited Americans of all faiths and idological conviction to “hold hands in a common effort” to reduce the number of abortions. “I don’t want to say that the debate concerning abortion will disappear: the opinions of Americans concerning it are complex and, at certain levels, irreconcilable,” the president said, exhorting those present to defend their opinions with passion and conviction, but “without reducing to caricature those who don’t think like us.”

    In his speech Obama reaffirmed the line of the task force assembled “to reduce the number of abortions, diminishing unwanted pregnancies, facilitating adoptions, and assuring assistence and support for those who decide to keep the baby”. The president also proposed a conscience clause for doctors and paramedics who disagree with the practice of abortion. “But”–he added– “let us work so that our health policies are founded on clear scientific and ethical crieteria, such as respect for the equality of women”.

    In his speech the president reminded the students the challenges posed by the economic crisis and by violent extremism, by nuclear proliferation and pandemics. But the attention was completely focused on the issue of abortion. “Even if they do not agree”–he said– “we can agree that it is a painful decision for any woman”.

  2. Jack Smith says:

    I have translated bits with commentary at The Catholic Key Blog. They misquoted the president at least twice –
    http://catholickey.blogspot.com/2009/05/losservatore-misquotes-president-full.html

  3. E. Osodemo says:

    Che vergogna e che schifo!, fra l’Oservatore Romano, le dichiarazioni del Cardinale Martini e Verze, i sacerdoti pedofili d’ Irlanda, le Universita di Notre Dame e Georgetown,etc.etc.la apostasia continua dalle piu alte gerarchie de la chiesa ai normali preti, la disobedienza, le deviazioni dottrinali, gli orribili e sacrilegi abusi liturgici etc.etc. ma, la Chiessa Catolica esiste ancora?

  4. yesir says:

    I really can’t believe the folks at L’OR are so gullible. Obama wants to “reduce” abortions; how do they think he’s going to do it? BY PROMOTING CONTRACEPTION!!!!! Guess what, folks, we’re against that too!. WAKE UP!

  5. Sara says:

    “Reducing abortions” may also result in Natural Family Planning, naprotechnology, and other approved family planning approaches and counseling, as well as approved alternative treatments for infertility and other womens’ health issues, be able to be covered by health insurance, while right now in many areas they are not.

  6. yesir says:

    I’m sure that promoting NFP is right up there on BO’s ways to “reduce abortion.” If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you…

  7. Andreas says:

    … diminuendo le gravidanze non volute … means, I suppose, “diminishing the unwanted pregnancies”. What exactly is an unwanted pregnancy? Unwanted? How can that happen if you don’t want it? I don’t get it.

  8. John 6:54 says:

    So would there be an article like this prior to Vatican II? Honestly being born in 1973 I wouldn’t know. But the “Trads” give the impression that nothing like this would have happened PRE-V2. For those of us born afterwards I’m beginning to wonder, just how many hijackers were there at the council?

  9. Mark says:

    Other than the comments that I would love this article to mention, it wasn’t an editorial, so to express approval or disapproval wouldn’t be right (IMHO/FWIW/YMMV). It was just a news article. It didn’t express agreement or disagreement, it just reported what the man said (which, of course, are all a bunch of lies).

    I really don’t see what the breathlessness was in the Stateside media about the article, now that I’ve seen it.

    Sorry, but I just don’t.

  10. EJ says:

    You know – I am really sympathetic when I hear that the Pope cannot possibly control EVERYTHING and how politics in the Vatican play out and yadda yadda yadda…. but the POPE’s own NEWSPAPER cannot have a lefty secularist friendly bias to it… that just cannot stand and I hope that the Holy Father and his inner circle will do something about it and soon…. while he’s at it.. he needs to do something about the new papal spokesman and his penchant for spinning the Pope’s words. My question is if the new Secretary of State, unlike Sodano, is totally behind the Pope.. from where else is the opposition within the Vatican coming from?

  11. Hidden One says:

    “Modern man is staggering and losing his balance because he is being pelted with little pieces of alleged fact which are native to the newspapers; and, if they turn out not to be facts, that is still more native to newspapers.”

    ~ G. K. Chesterton

  12. Joe Magarac says:

    Apparently even the Pope’s own paper also falls into the trap of incorrectly calling it “Notre Dame University.” That stings.

  13. The Astronomer says:

    “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it…”

    Alot of folks overlook the fact that Our Blessed Lord could well have implied “but it might be a really close call…..”

  14. EDG says:

    I thought it was a stupid gushy article that practically could have been written by Obama’s PR department. What it didn’t mention – things such as his praise for embryonic stem cell research, which was cheered by the assembled students, and the fact that even he essentially said that his whole approach to abortion was an exercise in semantics, and the firm opposition of more than 70 US bishops – was more important than what it did say. Europeans are absolutely in love with Obama, which is rather odd, because he doesn’t like them at all. Essentially, I thought the soft-focus article gave him everything he wanted, including the photo op.

    However, it didn’t imply any approval from the Pope, which is the impression one would have gotten from reading the jubilant reports of the article in the secular press.

  15. James says:

    What exactly is the problem with the photo? Perhaps I’m ignorant….

  16. Jeremy says:

    Oh the laws alowing abortion will never change untill we have a wise and blatent catholic like Rick Santorum from Penn in the oval office. Obama speaks idle words, and I will not belive a word he says till his actions change, he is the most left liberal in political office I have ever seen. While I have wanted someone from the midwest in the office for many years, and laude the fact we finaly have a minority president, and think that Obama speaks with power and is articulate when he talks.

    He is going to ruin our contry, bends over backward for the rest of the world when they wont even meet us half way on all his appologies on behalf this contry, and he is the most pro abortion guy I have seen, and he is weak on many issues.

    He has promissed to tax us to death in a recession, stuck the governments hands in the affairs of banking, auto, and buisness, and ran up more debt in three months then even the big government republican George W Bush, which is sad enough alone.

    Obama says that he will put taxes on the unhealthy stuff like liqure and fatty foods, our simple comforts you could say in this bad ecconomy, and our fuel so we cant even drive about trying to conduct buisness, He is going to kill any ecconomic recovery we can get and we will have massive debt that our grandkids even will never be able to pay off, the massive spending has to be reeled in NOW and we have to do something about it people.

    When will the real tridentine catholics step up and run for office, so we can have a candidate that is not someone like John Kerry, or Edward Kenedy who wont stand up for pro life culture, and someone that is not afraid to use their faith in their decision makeing but not some self rightious guy like GW Bush was either, we need someone that is empathic to the poor but not someone that will take away from small buisness or stick it so bad to the insureance companies that they will pull back coverage even more from those who need it most.

    That is how I truely feel

    I typed up a sermon on politics from a priest in our diocese at my webpage ChurchesofFortwayne on yahoo groups check it out will you.

    signed Jeremy

  17. LCB says:

    The problem with the photo is the message it sends.

    Obama standing buddy-buddy with Fr. Jenkins, wearing Notre Dame’s garb with a prayer to the Blessed Mother on it, with a background that says “The University of Notre Dame.” Both smiling while Obama receives a standing ovation from thousands of Catholics.

    It tells Catholics: supporting Obama is okay, and abortion isn’t all that wrong. And that’s exactly how a lot of Catholics will receive the message, and that’s exactly the message that Jenkins and Obama wanted to be received.

    IF abortion is wrong, then Obama never would have been honored at the nation’s premier Catholic University. But Obama did receive honors, so abortion isn’t really wrong. And we’ll be clobbered with that photo whenever the Church tries to speak up against Obama, and we’ll be clobbered with that photo come election time.

    I feel like Cato, I want to end every post with, “Notre Dame must lose its Catholicity.”

  18. Ricky Vines says:

    I went to the lion\’s den (America mag) and asked, “Show me the money.” Where’s the increased funding for adoptions or assistance to women who are carrying babies to term or the new law to protect consciences? Still no answer. Bottom line, nothing has changed and Obama said that too – many times. Rewind the speech to PP where he promised to sign FOCA first thing. So, to Catholics who still drink his Kool-Aid or Citronella or whatever the blank they drink in Rome, try drinking something more sacramental instead.

  19. Eric Giunta says:

    You all may be interested in an article I recently wrote for RenewAmerica.us, on this subject:

    “Obama’s Pope: How the Catholic Church Brought Abortion to America”:

    http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/giunta/090520

  20. LCB says:

    Eric,

    I greatly enjoyed your article. How will history judge us? And how will God?

  21. Lori Pieper says:

    Given all the comment floating around to the effect that Europeans in general and Italians in particular, including the Holy See(!) are more “balanced and reasonable” than we pesky Americans on abortion, I decided to translate some of the Italian commentary on Paolo Rodari’s blog (he published interview with Signor Vian).

    Contrary to what’s being said by the media, many Italian Catholics, not just Americans, are blowing their stacks over the OR’s editorial policy.

    http://subcreators.com/blog/2009/05/21/washington-is-worth-a-mass/

  22. Joe says:

    I read Eric Giunta\’s article. I understand the point – we will be judged regarding abortion as we have been judged regarding Hitler. But about how we have been judged regarding Hitler, we might wish some things had been done differently, but we also realize that the criticism is fundamentally unfair. I think the article as a piece of satire is a bit too smooth in that it uses the worldly unfair approach too effectively. A Catholic would make sure that the irony of the piece (including unfair terms such as \”feebly\” and \”platudinous\”) is clear. But I do think the basic point – that we are doing with abortion and Obama what enemies of the Church claim we did with Nazism and Hitler – is sound.

    Perhaps at heart that\’s the fundamental problem with Europeans commenting on this issue. Like their perpetual cycle of wars, they tend to repeat their own thoughts.

  23. mpm says:

    Lori Pieper,

    Thank you for that link. It has reconfirmed me in a long-held belief that,
    whatever faults the Italians may have, their common sense and basically healthy
    attitude toward life is a MAJOR asset of that beloved land.

  24. Mary in CO says:

    Yesir has put it correctly — Pres. Obama’s “strategy” to reduce the need for abortions is to push contraception and Plan B (emergency contraception that prevents implantation of the embryo in the uterus).

    Don’t be looking for crisis pregnancy centers or adoption agencies to be funded by this administration. Instead, expect to see the money going to sex ed, Medicare programs that offer contraceptives and Plan B to minors (with or without parental consent), and family planning clinics (AKA abortion facilities).

    Obama can claim that this strategy reduces the “need for abortions” because he clings to the semantical redefinition of pregnancy (which both the AMA and HHS Dept. define as occurring only when an embryo is implanted). It’s all word play, folks. A human is a human, whether implanted or not. Plan B is chemical abortion because it kills a human life. And yup, contraceptive use violates God’s natural law (and can be an abortifacient as well).

    Obama can claim support of “debate about abortion” (as he did at ND), but don’t expect his heart to be converted to defend life at ANY stage — not without pray for his conversion, and fasting, and praying some more.

    LCB — instead of taking Cato’s tack, perhaps we can take as our motto (and prayer): “Notre Dame must regain its Catholicity.”

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