Jun 17, 2009 / 15:39 pm
Gian Maria Vian, the editor-in-chief of L’Osservatore Romano who has come under fire for his his alleged “pro-Obama” stance, clarified today in an interview that the Vatican’s daily newspaper is and has always been supportive of the U.S. bishops, but it is also hopeful that Obama will be a pro-life president.
In a lengthy interview with Delia Gallagher published today by the National Review Online, Vian spoke first about his recent book “In Defense of Pius XII.”
Later, explaining his controversial assertion that “Obama is not a pro-abortion president,” Vian said, “I made that statement in an interview with an Italian journalist of Il Riformista who called me on the day the president was at Notre Dame for the controversial ceremony of the conferring of the law degree honoris causa. I was in Barcelona; I gave the interview over the phone and based my observation primarily on the speech President Obama gave on that occasion — a speech which demonstrated openness. In this sense, I said that he didn’t seem a pro-abortion president.”
Vian conceded in the National Review interview that “Senator Obama made decisions that certainly cannot be defined as pro-life, to use the American term. He was, rather, pro-choice. Yet I believe that the senator’s activity prior to his presidential election is one thing, and the political line he is following as president of the United States is another.”