Rome, Italy, Jul 6, 2009 / 10:06 am
Responding to Cardinal Georges Cottier's recent article praising President Obama, Vatican analyst Sandro Magister has said the cardinal almost exalts Obama as “a new Constantine, the head of a modern empire that is also generous toward the Church."
In Magister’s article, published yesterday, he casts doubt on remarks made by Cardinal Georges Cottier, 87, who lauded President Obama’s abortion stance in the Catholic magazine, “30 Days.”
Cardinal Cottier, a Swiss Dominican who served as the official theologian of the pontifical household for several years under John Paul II, discussed two of President Obama’s speeches: his commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame and the address at the Al-Azhar Islamic University in Cairo. The cardinal noted that in both speeches, President Obama gave “a glimpse of politics that can be usefully compared with fundamental elements of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church.”
Magister summarized Cardinal Cottier's analysis, saying that the cardinal finds “Obama’s vision highly compatible with the Catholic perspective,” and also attributes “good and constructive intentions to him even on the minefield of abortion.”