Friday, 10th July 2009 - 21:19CET
Obama wants to reduce abortions in US
President Barack Obama promised Pope Benedict today that he would do everything possible to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, the Vatican said.
Obama and Pope Benedict held private talks for about 40 minutes in the pope's frescoed study in the Vatican's apostolic palace and the Vatican said bioethics and life issues were a central part of the discussion.
In a surprise move, the pontiff gave Obama a booklet explaining Vatican opposition to practices such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research, which Obama supports.
"Obama told the Pope of his commitment to reduce the number of abortions and of his attention and respect for the positions of the Catholic Church," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters after he was briefed by the Pope.
Obama supports abortion rights and says his policy is to change economic and social conditions so as to put more women in situations where they do not feel they have to have an abortion.
The Pope gave Obama, who last March lifted restrictions of federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, a copy of a recent Vatican document on bio-ethics in which the Holy See explains its opposition to such practices.
"Dignitas Personae" (dignity of a person) condemns artificial fertilisation and other techniques used by many couples and also says human cloning, "designer babies" and embryonic stem-cell research are immoral.
The document defends life from conception to natural death and a Vatican statement issued after the meeting said the topics discussed included "the defence and promotion of life and the right to abide by one's conscience".
The Pope's private secretary told reporters after the meeting: "This reading can help the President better understand the Church's position on these issues."
"We know that this (abortion) is a crucial theme for the pope. There is no need to hide it. It (giving him the booklet) was an attempt to be clear, it was not polemical," Lombardi said.
POPE IMPRESSED BY OBAMA
Lombardi said the Pope was "very impressed" by Obama and that the pontiff was "extremely satisfied" with the talks.
Obama told the Pope during a picture-taking session after the private part of the audience: "We look forward to a very strong relationship between our two countries."
The Pope also gave the President a copy of his latest encyclical, "Charity in Truth," which called for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat.
Obama, who was going to the airport from the Vatican, joked to the Pope when he gave him the two documents: "I'll have something to read on the plane."
Unlike his predecessor George Bush, Obama and the Pope do not see eye-to-eye on abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.
The Vatican condemns embryonic stem cell research, which scientists say can lead to cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's, because it involves the destruction of embryos.
Before he arrived at the Vatican, Michelle Obama and their children Malia and Sasha were given a private tour of St Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Michelle Obama joined her husband and the Pope after the private talks ended.
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Comments
Keep watering your geraniums Mr. Vincenti, it is a worth while pass time.
You should go and water them every time you get the nonsensical urge to associate Divorce with Abortion.
Maybe your gardening hobby will help you overcome this problem you been having.
The only thing that can be said for human overpopulation is that it is the main cause of poverty, unemployment, slave wages, pollution, wars and the destruction of the planet. Nobody seems to want to undress this issue, the elephant in the room that everyone is ignoring.
The Establishment course, the is joint to be all for the continuing this human population disaster, otherwise who is going to be manning those factories in the third world that they all have own or have shares in and buying the goods that they produce?
To keep the Capitalist system going, it is necessary to have an endless supply of drone workers, willing to work for slave wages and a pool of consumers at the other end to buy the goods. That is how the top 1% of the world's population plans to retain their wealth and power.
Can't stick around for your predictable dribble guys. I have far more stimulating things to do like watering my Geraniums .
I want to talk to Obama too, and I want him to stop the destruction of all God-created micro-organisims that are being destroyed by the billions and trillions each day in the US by the use of disinfectants and bleach.
With all the poverty and social injustice in the US, all the pontiff had to talk about is cells and embyros - full term human beings, children and adults alike.