In a letter to all US Bishops, Dolan said at a recent meeting the White House officials told bishops conference staff that revisiting the mandate or broadening the contraception exemption in order to address "the broader concerns of religious freedom is off the table.

"The White House seems to think we bishops simply do not know or understand Catholic teaching," Dolan said.

The newly elevated Cardinal said that religious freedom is therefore under attack and the bishops will not cease in the struggle to protect it.

"We did not ask for this fight, but we will not run from it," Dolan said.

"We will not let this deception stand," he said, adding that "the Church hardly needs to be lectured about health care for women" because, due largely to the work of religious sisters, the Church is "the largest private provider of health care for women" in the United States.

Although the bishops have accepted the president's invitation to "work out the wrinkles," the process "seems to be stalled," Cardinal Dolan told his fellow bishops.

He stressed the importance of the unity of the bishops conference and the importance of finding other ways to fight the mandate.

Dolan said the bishops conference is preparing catechetical resources on the Church's teaching on religious freedom, however also said that legal action maybe the best path and will offer the most light.

Sources

• CNA
• Image: Te Deum Blog

On Friday, the Vatican announced it will be taking legal action against Benetton after the company displayed a fake photo of the pope kissing a top Egyptian imam on the lips, and Benetton ceded.

Protesting the use of US President, Barack Obama, White House spokesman, Eric Schultz said, "The White House has a long-standing policy disapproving of the use of the president's name and likeness for commercial purposes."

However, despite the White House's protest, on Saturday, Benetton went ahead with its "Unhate" campaign and used an image of President Obama smooching his Chinese opposite number Hu Jintao, publishing the image in Italy's biggest daily, the Corriere della Sera.

La Repubblica, Italy's other main daily paper, published a double page spread showing eurozone strongmen Nicolas Sarkzoy and Angela Merkel puckering up.

The White House jealously guards Obama's image and objected last year when a garment company transformed a picture of him, in what appeared to be one its winter coats during a trip to China, into a billboard overlooking Times Square in New York. The advert was subsequently taken down.

Schultz declined to say if the White House would contact Benetton directly to express its objections.

Alberto Fusignani, CEO and founder of creative agency Independent Ideas, said the campaign was "a gratuitous speculation" on the part of Benetton and its think-tank Fabrica.

They "crossed the limit, so much so that the campaign becomes banal. They touched a predictable element in a calculated way to create buzz, but it lacks spontaneity. They knew the effect these photos would have and this is not correct, it's an abuse of power somehow. To be provocative for the sake of it is not rewarding, even if you and I are talking about this right now."

This kind of communication "makes no sense at this moment and it's not contemporary, nor is it creative. These are merely montages," Fusignani said.

Sources

• WWD
• Vancouver Sun
• Christian Science Monitor
• Image: Christian Science Monitor