American community organisers and union leaders have met Vatican officials to help encourage Pope Francis address social issues when he visits the US. They are hoping Pope Francis will discuss such issues when he meets President Barack Obama and addresses the US Congress in September. The issues raised include immigration reform, economic injustice for low-wage Read more
Posts Tagged ‘President Obama’
Pope phones murdered US journalist’s parents
Tuesday, August 26th, 2014
Pope Francis has personally consoled the family of James Foley, the US journalist beheaded by Islamist militants in Iraq. Last week, Mr Foley’s parents John and Diane Foley told media of their gratitude for the Pope’s concern, expressed during a long phone call on August 21. “Pope Francis was so dear because he is grieving Read more
Pope Francis has first meeting with President Obama
Tuesday, April 1st, 2014
United States President Barack Obama and Pope Francis met for 52 minutes at the Vatican on March 27, in the first meeting between the two leaders. They discussed international conflicts and the importance of humanitarian and international law, as well as issues of poverty and injustice. According to the Vatican, “the parties discussed questions of Read more
War as punishment: President Obama’s Syrian solution
Friday, September 6th, 2013
The most recent comments by United States President Barack Obama regarding a possible military intervention in Syria indicate views at odds with just war theory – the doctrine emerging from moral philosophy surrounding the just use of military force. On Saturday, President Obama expressed his desire to “hold the Assad regime accountable for their use Read more
President Obama sees Catholic schools as divisive
Friday, June 21st, 2013United States President Barack Obama has argued that parish schools are an impediment to the establishment of a lasting peace in Northern Ireland. Speaking in Belfast to a crowd composed mainly of children, Obama said “segregated schools” block the path to full reconciliation. “If towns remain divided, if Catholics have their schools and buildings and Read more
President Obama: Prolifers ‘assault women’s rights’
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013In an address to a Planned Parenthood fundraising event, United States President Barack Obama has accused pro-life activists of being engaged in “an assault on women’s rights”. Hailing Planned Parenthood’s work, the President criticized “those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s”. Obama, the first sitting president to Read more
Catholic priest Emil Kapaun receives posthumous medal
Tuesday, April 16th, 2013
They are all in their 80s now — these former POWs during the Korean War. One recalls in rapid-fire bursts how Father Emil Kapaun sneaked out of the barracks at night, risking his life to bring back morsels of food for his fellow prisoners. Another remembers seeing the young American priest use a rock and Read more
Bishops stress religious freedom to re-elected Obama
Friday, November 9th, 2012
Congratulating the re-elected President Barack Obama, the president of the United States Catholic Bishops’ Conference has emphasised that the bishops “will continue to stand in defence of life, marriage, and our first, most cherished, liberty, religious freedom”. “The Catholic bishops of the United States offer our prayers that God will give you strength and wisdom Read more
Presidential debate: does the God vote matter?
Friday, October 19th, 2012
The question is: Does the God vote matter? Mitt Romney’s advisers seem to think so. President Obama’s do not. For the second debate, Romney has remarked that we are all children of the same God. Obama has taken a pass. Romney has to appeal to the evangelicals, mostly Republican, who are suspicious of Mormons. Obama Read more
Catholic business avoids Obama birth control mandate
Friday, August 3rd, 2012A Colorado business owned by a Catholic family does not have to comply with President Barack Obama’s new healthcare mandate that private employers provide employees with insurance coverage of birth control, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge John Kane in Denver temporarily blocked the government from the enforcing the birth control mandate against Read more