Deutsche Presse-Agentur: Vatican Enters 2009 with Ambivalence Towards Obama

December 22,2008

Outgoing US President George W Bush's visit to Rome in June culminated in talks with Pope Benedict XVI held in an unprecedented setting in the Vatican City's splendid gardens. Read More...

Time Magazine: Will the Pope and Obama Clash Over Abortion?

November 18,2008

Though Barack Obama won't be announcing his foreign travel plans anytime soon, it's a good bet that the new U.S. President will meet Pope Benedict XVI sometime next year, perhaps in early July to coincide with the G-8 summit in Italy. Read More...

Chicago Tribune: Bishops to Challenge Obama on abortion

November 12,2008

In a direct challenge to President-elect Barack Obama, America's Roman Catholic bishops vowed on Tuesday to accept no compromise for the sake of national unity until there is legal protection for the unborn. Read More...

Boston.com: NH Lawmaker Writes of Tension with Parish

November 06,2008

New Hampshire State Rep. Eileen Flockhart, a Democrat from Exeter, is a churchgoing Catholic who supports abortion rights and gay rights. In the current issue of Conscience, a newsletter published by Catholics for Choice, Flockhart writes of how her parish ousted her as a lector because of her views.

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Journal-World (Kansas): Catholic archbishop gives moral guidance on election

October 22,2008

Oct. 22--Abortion is the fundamental issue for Catholics in the presidential campaign, said Archbishop Joseph Naumann, of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, in a visit Tuesday night to Kansas University's Dole Institute of Politics. Read More...

Religion News Service: Church-state group asks IRS to investigate Catholic bishop

October 22,2008

WASHINGTON A church-state watchdog group has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether the Roman Catholic bishop of Paterson, N.J., violated tax laws by denouncing Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama. Read More...

Herald News (New Jersey): Bishop urges Catholics to stay away from Obama

October 21,2008

In his weekly column last week, Bishop Arthur Serratelli urged Catholics against voting for Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, based on his pro-abortion stance. Read More...

Star-Ledger: Catholic voters urged to weigh abortion issue

October 19,2008

In poll after poll, voters have consistently placed abortion far down on their list of priorities for choosing a president this fall, below issues such as the economy, the war in Iraq, terrorism, health care, energy and taxes. Read More...

The Record (New Jersey): No Whitman sampler for a Trenton bishop

October 17,2008

I WANT to promote a new bumper sticker slogan: "We don't need no stinkin' litmus test." Read More...

National Catholic Reporter: 'U.S. bishops damaging rich Catholic faith tradition'

October 16,2008

The Catholic church has a problem on its hands. Just weeks before the presidential election, a few bishops and prelates have come dangerously close to making implicit political endorsements by telling Catholics that abortion trumps all other moral issues and lashing out against the Democratic Party. Read More...

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: In letter, area Catholic dioceses urge votes for pro-life candidates

October 14,2008

With less than a month before the presidential election, the Roman Catholic bishops of the Fort Worth and Dallas dioceses have issued a joint letter calling abortion "intrinsically evil" and saying it is "morally impermissible" for Catholics to vote for pro-abortion rights candidates over pro-life candidates. Read More...

Dallas Morning News: Bishops' letter on vote assailed Critics say it's a nod for McCain; others defend it as dogma

October 14,2008

Some North Texas Catholics are upset with a letter written to them by their local bishops, saying it amounts to an endorsement of John McCain for president. Read More...

Denver Post: Bishops chide Ritter on view of personhood

October 09,2008

The archbishop of Denver on Wednesday publicly scolded Gov. Bill Ritter - a self-described "pro-life" Catholic - for comments he made about whether a fertilized egg is a person. Read More...

Denver Post: Election 2008 Ritter: Amend. 48 goes too far Catholic governor concerned by effects of ``personhood'' measure

October 08,2008

For Gov. Bill Ritter, a self-described "pro-life" Catholic, Amendment 48 has created a quandary. Read More...

Times of Trenton: Catholic school disinvites Whitman Trenton bishop cites her pro-choice stance

October 07,2008

As a New Jersey governor and national Republican figure, Christie Whitman won votes and political acclaim by supporting abortion rights. But the stance got Whitman bounced from a speaking gig at Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic school of 550 girls in Princeton Township. Read More...

Boston Globe: Church pressing abortion fight

October 06,2008

As Catholic bishops ratchet up their antiabortion arguments on the eve of the presidential election, Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley told hundreds of people gathered on Boston Common yesterday that Trig Palin, the child with Down syndrome whom Governor Sarah Palin chose not to abort, was the "star" of the political conventions this year. Read More...

Times-Picayune: CATHOLIC CONSCIENCE; Social issues key in presidential race, church says

October 03,2008

Catholic voters considering how to cast their presidential ballots should judge candidates by their passion for building a safer and more humane world, especially for the poor and the weak, retired Washington, D.C., Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and others told an audience at Loyola University this week. Read More...

Times-Tribune: Groups rip Martino on vote advice

October 02,2008

Oct. 2--Groups that advocate for a broad view of Catholic social justice teaching and for maintaining the separation of church and state have criticized a letter by Bishop Joseph F. Martino that instructs Catholic voters to consider abortion above all other issues on Election Day.
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Columbus Dispatch: Western Ohio's Catholic voters have clout

September 30,2008

TIPP CITY, Ohio -- When Catholics first began worshipping at St. John the Baptist Church here, a presidential campaign rife with racial overtones was raging across the country. Read More...

National Catholic Reporter: Catholic Democrat group hits K of C attack on Biden

September 25,2008

Catholic Democrats, a state-based network of groups representing a Catholic voice within the Democratic Party, has decried as "hypocritical and partisan" an attack by Carl Anderson, national head of the Knights of Columbus, on Sen. Joseph Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate. Read More...

US News & World Report: Abortion, Catholic Sex Scandals, the Bishop of Scranton, and Joe Biden's Communion

September 23,2008

Once again, the emotionally charged issue of abortion has penetrated a presidential campaign, especially among Roman Catholic voters. Read More...

National Catholic Reporter: We are not party bosses, archbishop says

September 18,2008

As the culture wars find their way once again into a U.S. political campaign and the religion-infused debate over abortion heats up, one Catholic leader has issued a ringing rejection of an attempt to twin politics with "the truth of Scripture." Read More...

Wall Street Journal: Catholic Bishops Seek to Meet With McCain, Obama

September 17,2008

BOSTON -- America's Catholic bishops have a few thoughts on politics, and this year they want to share them directly with the candidates. Read More...

Capital Times (Wisconsin): Bishop Morlino’s Political Positioning

September 16,2008

Madison Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino has every right -- and, many serious commentators on religion and politics would suggest, every responsibility -- to express his views on whether Catholics who are seeking public office are remaining true to their faith as they operate in the public sphere. Read More...

The Bulletin (Philadelphia): Bishops Chastise Biden's Pro-Choice Comments

September 11,2008

Two Denver Catholic bishops responded Sept. 8 to Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden's comments on conception made the day before on NBC's "Meet the Press." When asked when life begins, Sen. Biden, who identifies himself as Catholic, said, "it's a personal and private issue." Read More...

National Catholic Reporter: After 30 years, bishops, politicians, voters vexed by abortion

September 11,2008

The U.S. bishops' administrative committee announced Sept. 10 the bishops’ conference will take up the enduring and vexing issue of politics and abortion in America when it meets in Baltimore next November. Read More...

Chicago Sun Times: Cardinal all but endorses McCain and Palin

September 10,2008

'The church does not endorse candidates for office," said Chicago's Cardinal Francis George in a letter read at all masses last Sunday. Read More...

Washington Times: Pelosi 'pastor' asks to meet on abortion; Barring Communion at issue

September 06,2008

San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer, home bishop to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, released a letter Friday saying that local Catholics are pressuring him to forbid the California Democrat from receiving Holy Communion because of her recent televised remarks favoring abortion. Read More...

Religion Dispatches: Bishops vs. Catholic Politicians

September 05,2008

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, interviewed on August 24 on Meet the Press made reference to the traditional Catholic teaching that in pregnancy, personal life does not begin until later in the pregnancy when the fetus is "formed." Read More...

Rocky Mountain News: Bishop jumps into political fight, Chaput blasts Pelosi in letter

August 27,2008

Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput is stepping into the political fire again, this time reprimanding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her views on abortion and calling on Roman Catholics not to "break radically with historic Christian and Catholic belief." Read More...

The Hill's Congress Blog: Catholic Bishops Not on the Same Page as Pelosi, American Catholics

August 27,2008

In their responses to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl and the US bishops commented on their interpretation of what Speaker Pelosi said, not what she actually said. Speaker Pelosi was correct in noting that Catholic teaching has changed over the years, even on the issue of when life begins. Read More...

National Catholic Reporter: Bishops dispute Speaker Pelosi comment on abortion

August 26,2008

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press Aug. 24, said “doctors of the church” had taught different ideas at various times about when life begins and that the matter had been “an issue of controversy” over centuries. She also said the absolute teaching that life begins at conception was a development of recent decades. Read More...

The Hill: Pelosi’s feud with archbishop escalates

August 26,2008

The public feud over abortion between the Speaker of the House and the archbishop of Washington intensified Tuesday as Rep. Nancy Pelosi responded to his recent criticism and the archbishop fired another salvo at the California Democrat. Read More...

Religion News Service: Biden pick provides Catholic link, but renews abortion debate

August 25,2008

WASHINGTON While supporters say Sen. Joe Biden provides a crucial link with Catholic voters, others say the new vice presidential running mate reprises an unwelcome debate over abortion and Communion. Read More...