Vatican City, May 8, 2009 / 03:02 am
In an article published this morning, Italian Vatican analyst Sandro Magister notes that, while L'Osservatore Romano has praised Barack Obama for his "moderation," two scholars from the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences have harshly criticized the U.S. President for his position on life issues.
In his article titled "Angel or Demon? At the Vatican, Obama is both," Magister explains that the divide between the "olympic calmness" of the Vatican newspaper in evaluating Obama's first 100 days and the "growing number of critics among lay people and bishops" in the U.S., has created a "stupor" in some Vatican dicasteries.
Unlike some U.S. analysts, who claim that there is no sign of animosity toward Obama in the Roman Curia, Magister says that, following the pro-Obama article of L'Osservatore Romano, the plenary meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences has been a venue for sharp criticism against the U.S. President.
The meeting was held at the Vatican May 1 – 5.
Magister recalls that the President of the Pontifical Academy is none other than Professor Mary Ann Glendon, who recovered her position after leaving her post as the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See.
Professor Glendon recently rejected the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame in protest for the university's decision to bestow an honorary degree to President Obama on May 17.
The Vatican expert reveals that French Archbishop Roland Minnerath and Belgian priest and scholar Michel Schooyans coordinated their conferences to deliver a harsh criticism on the "messianic" mentality of both President Obama and Tony Blair.
Before reproducing the second part of Schooyans' conference, Magister notes that Archbishop Minnerath, 62, is "well known" by Pope Benedict XVI, who appointed him special secretary to the Synod of Bishops of 2005.
Schooyans, on his part, is one of the top scholars on international policies related to life issues.
The second part of Schooyans' conference, titled "Obama and Blair Messianism Reinterpreted," in which the Belgian scholar claims that abortion world wide will dramatically grow as a consequence of Obama's anti-life policies, is fully reproduced by Magister at: http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/?eng=y