Free Republic

In the late afternoon of July 1o, President Obama met privately with Pope Benedict XVI for just over 30 minutes. According to official Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, S.J., "The president explicitly expressed his commitment to reducing the numbers of abortions and to listen to the church's concern on moral issues." On July 13 in a Senate committee hearing, Sen. Barbara Mikulski was forced to admit under persistent questioning by Sen. Orrin Hatch that the new health-care bill includes abortion coverage. Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute estimates government funding of abortion increases abortion by 20 to 35 percent. There were 1,206,200...

***Pope Rebukes Pelosi, Tells Her Catholic Legislators Obligated to Protect Life: No Pelosi/Pope photos permitted*** ### The Vatican Press Office released a note this morning detailing part of the conversation which Pope Benedict XVI had with Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Pelosi also released a statement on the meeting which ignored the one and only crucial issue mentioned in the Vatican note. Pelosi presented the meeting as a fully positive encounter while the Vatican indicated the Pope reminded her of the requirement of Catholic politicians to defend life. It is also noteworthy that, contrary to normal...

Jews and the Catholic Church. The Rabbis of Italy Don't Like This Pope OMA, January 16, 2009 – In the area of geopolitics, the war in Gaza has sharpened the disagreements between the Catholic Church and Israel, as www.chiesa showed in its article on January 4. The hope is that Benedict XVI's trip to the Holy Land, thought to be scheduled for May, will diminish the mutual misunderstandings. Meanwhile, however, mainly because of Israeli intransigence, there is no progress in the negotiations to implement the 1993 accords between the Holy See and Israel. Nor is there any sign of the...