· December 22, 2008
In our January sermon on President Obama, Keep the Faith Ministry explained how that the Catholic Church disagrees with Mr. Obama on social teaching, especially in regard to stem cell research, abortion, and other socially conservative issues. However, we also noted that Rome is not willing to alienate itself from the Obama Administration over them, but may have to put their goals aside for a while, or at least their hopes for progress, while they accomplish other things in the meantime.
Interestingly, the New York Times, on December 18, in an article on the Papal message to Obama essentially said the same thing. “The Vatican doesn’t want to be at loggerheads with Barack Obama,” wrote the Times, “because it sees a range of matters where it’s more in sync with him than it has been with President Bush… A papal spokesman said the Vatican hopes to work with him on Iraq, the Holy Land, Christian minorities in the Middle East and Asia, and the fight against poverty and social inequality.”
“To be clear, the Vatican yields to no one in its pro-life commitments,” said the Times. “In effect, “Dignitas Personae” [a recent strongly worded Vatican document on bioethics] is a reminder that there will be no ‘truce,’ no strategic silence, about the defense of human life from the moment of conception. The question now is whether the Vatican will find an equally effective way to mobilize those Catholics who hope to build bridges [with the Obama Administration on these social issues],” wrote the Times.
The Times also said that “what the Vatican may not fully appreciate, however, is that putting out a hard-nosed pro-life document right now, at least in the United States, may be the political equivalent of shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater.”
But those who are watching prophecy unfold should recognize that Rome gains much political clout by its independence on social moral issues when it comes to the other churches. This helps her in her attempt to align the church in an ecumenical alliance against a declining secular society that has all but forgotten God.
Rome is gearing up for a delicate war; one in which she must maintain a delicate balance between her political collaboration with the American Administration on geopolitical issues while strongly opposing its liberal domestic social policies. During the Bush Administration, Rome gained a lot ground on its domestic social agenda, some of which it will likely lose during the Obama Administration. Now Rome is planning on gaining a lot of ground in geopolitical issues during the Obama Administration that it could not achieve during the Bush Administration. Rome is trying to do damage control by her strong opposition to the liberal social policies of the Obama Administration. She knows that if she can mobilize the public to oppose Obama and a liberal U.S. Congress she will be more effective in limiting the damage.
