Posted on 03/27/2014 4:24:18 PM PDT by NYer
Rome Correspondent Hilary White contributed to this report.
ROME, March 27, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In their first face-to-face meeting, Pope Francis reiterated the Catholic Church's concerns with President Barack Obama's policies on abortion, conscience rights, and freedom of religion.
A source familiar with the talks told LifeSiteNews that the Vatican press release on the meeting was "remarkably forthright" in emphasizing the fact that the pope raised these issues with the president.
According to the press release, the pope launched a discussion with the American president about the proper role of church and state, raising “questions of particular relevance for the [Catholic] Church in that country.” These included “the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life, and conscientious objection,” according to the Vatican.
The 52-minute-long meeting marked Obama's first audience with Pope Francis. The divide between the Obama administration and the Catholic Church has deepened since his meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, with broiling arguments over the president's promotion of abortion-on-demand, same-sex “marriage,” and the HHS contraceptive/abortifacient mandate.
The USCCB has spoken out against the mandate that employers provide female employees with contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs with no co-pay. Pope Francis today restated their concerns that the ObamaCare policy forced Catholics to violate their deeply held religious beliefs.
The policy even impacts American nuns. The Little Sisters of the Poor do not automatically qualify for the Affordable Care Act's constricted religious exemption because they serve non-Catholic poor, and refuse to sign a waiver implying their approval of contraceptive use. “We believe the government's attempt to coerce us in this manner is wrong, and that it violates our religious liberty,” the Sisters said last year.
The Supreme Court has yet to rule on the mandate's constitutionality.
Pope Francis presented President Obama with a copy of his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium ("The Joy of the Gospel"), which criticizes some public figures who attempt to marginalize the pro-life message by presenting it as “ideological, obscurantist, and conservative.”
“This defense of unborn life is closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right,” Pope Francis wrote. “It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development.”
The president said he may look at it. “You know, I actually will probably read this when I'm in the Oval Office,” Obama responded, “when I am deeply frustrated, and I am sure it will give me strength and will calm me down.”
The pope and President Obama pledged their mutual support to eradicating human trafficking around the world.
However, the Obama administration cut all federal grants to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' efforts to combat human trafficking in 2011, because the group refuses to refer pregnant women for abortions.
Some observers had expected this morning's meeting inside the Vatican to sidestep contentious moral issues in favor of greater economic intervention. Before their meeting, Obama told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that Pope Francis gave “great moral authority” to his call to address income inequality between “those at the very top and the income of the typical family.”
“It isn't just an economic issue,” the president said. “It's a moral issue.”
However, it is not clear from the Vatican that the issue of economic redistribution was raised.“We hope the takeaway from today’s meeting is not a photo-op used to promote the President’s partisan domestic agenda,” Maureen Ferguson, senior policy adviser for The Catholic Association, said. “Today’s meeting comes at a time when the Obama administration is battling the Catholic Church in the U.S. over her right to be Catholic – fighting all the way to the Supreme Court to force people of faith, including nuns who care for the poor, to violate Church teaching or face massive government fines.”
International tensions were addressed, as both the pope and President Obama are deeply involved in the current tensions between Russia, Crimea, and Ukraine.
Vatican officials described the meeting as “cordial.” President Obama walked past the ceremonial Swiss Guard and shook Pope Francis' hand, bowing slightly.
For his part, Obama presented Pope Francis with a collection of seeds from the White House garden in a chest made from the first Catholic cathedral in the United States, after hearing that the pope enjoys gardening.
“His Holiness is probably the only person who has to put up with more protocol than me,” Obama joked, referring to the two men's respective meetings with foreign dignitaries and attendant security details.
Also present at the meeting were Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Vatican's secretary for relations with states.
The previous day, Pope Francis met with another American delegation led by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, an outspoken critic of the HHS mandate and proponent of appropriate Christian engagement with the political sphere.
It is because killing unborn children trumps everything. They want easy access to women with no consequences, without having to pay for it.
From the article:
“Pope Francis presented President Obama with a copy of his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (”The Joy of the Gospel”), which criticizes some public figures who attempt to marginalize the pro-life message by presenting it as ideological, obscurantist, and conservative....
The president said he may look at it. You know, I actually will probably read this when I’m in the Oval Office, Obama responded, when I am deeply frustrated, and I am sure it will give me strength and will calm me down.”
Seriously? He says he MAY look at it? He thinks that if he MAY look at it it will give him strength and calm him down?
Such arrogance! People blinded by the god of this world (Satan) betray themselves with their words. The Lord isn’t here to to serve or strengthen us so that we can proceed with our own agenda. We are here to glorify God and to obey his commands, out of thankfulness for his divine Salvation through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
For his part, Pope Francis presented the president with two bronze medals. One, called the Medallion With an Angel Solidarity and Peace, depicts an angel, mystical in appearance, embracing and bringing together the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of the Earth, while overcoming the opposition of a dragon.The figure of the angel illustrates contemporary challenges: bringing the worlds northern and southern regions together and harmonizing them, while combating all disruptive forces, such as exploitation, intransigent opposition, new forms of colonialism, indifference, mistrust and prejudice, the Vatican explained in an accompanying note.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/pope-francis-president-obama-discuss-religious-freedom-life-issues-and-immi#ixzz2xGUpPKaU
Yhe Pope clearly has the patience of Job!
Obama was way out classed and outranked ..again.
AN easy job, I must admit but the pope did a splendid job of providing a massive Contrast to obie’s shallow sick slick pretensions
Patience is a virtue, yes...
But sometimes, a good healthy dose of righteous anger - especially when the enemy of what you believe and hold dear is standing right in front of you - is a good thing too.
Tried to post this, but source is not welcome. Too bad you know...we don’t get accurate information from ‘acceptable’ sources. This is a quote from the Pope...
It brings infinite joy to my heart to realize that myself and his holiness, President Obama, have been chosen by our Gods to pursue this truly miraculous path. Just as I have been chosen by my Christ, President Obama was chosen by Allah to lead his people in these challenging and difficult times of such strife.
Obama MUST have admitted to being Muslim to the Pope, else why would the Pope have referenced ‘Allah’????? This is a HUGE public revelation....the media is silent.
“..ow I might react to his presence were I pope..is a mystery. ...”
Let’s just say The Papal Pimp Hand would be strong with me... and I’d need a LOT of prayer...
Obie’s “presence” Invites a good deal of anger doesnt it.
My wife said she was surprised obama and all those accompanying him didn’t burst into flames. Apparently Satan isn’t afraid of the pope.
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