{"id":479,"date":"2009-07-03T13:27:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-03T13:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/07\/cardinal-praises-obamas-humble-realism.html"},"modified":"2009-07-03T13:27:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-03T13:27:00","slug":"cardinal-praises-obamas-humble-realism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/07\/cardinal-praises-obamas-humble-realism.html","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal praises Obama’s “humble realism”"},"content":{"rendered":"

As if the warm words he’s getting from the Vatican newspaper<\/a> weren’t enough, President Obama now has a prominent cardinal and former papal theologian in his corner. <\/p>\n

John Allen has details<\/a>: <\/p>\n

In the run-up to President Barack Obama\u2019s much-anticipated July 10 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, an influential cardinal and Vatican adviser has praised Obama\u2019s \u201chumble realism\u201d and compared the president\u2019s approach to abortion to the thinking of St. Thomas Aquinas and early Christian tradition about framing laws in a pluralistic society.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Swiss Cardinal George Cottier, 87, former theologian of the papal household under Pope John Paul II, laid out those views in a cover essay in the current issue of 30 Giorni, perhaps the most widely read journal of Catholic affairs in Italy.<\/p>\n

Styled as an analysis of two Obama speeches \u2013 his May 17 commencement address at the University of Notre Dame and his June 4 speech to the Islamic world in Cairo \u2013 Cottier\u2019s essay was overwhelmingly positive, repeatedly arguing that Obama\u2019s \u201crealism\u201d, as well as his commitment to finding \u201ccommon ground\u201d, resonate with Christian tradition and the social teaching of the Catholic church.<\/p>\n

Seen through American eyes, perhaps the most striking element was Cottier\u2019s analysis of what Obama had to say at Notre Dame. The university\u2019s decision to invite Obama, and to award him an honorary degree, were widely criticized in Catholic circles in the States, given Obama\u2019s positions on abortion, embryonic stem cell research and other life issues. More than 80 bishops publicly objected to the event.<\/p>\n

Cottier, however, compared Obama\u2019s Notre Dame address to Pope Paul VI\u2019s encyclical Ecclesiam Suam, in its accent on dialogue and common ground, and to the document Dignitatis Humanae of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) on conducting the search for truth in a pluralistic society. Christians, Cottier wrote, \u201ccan be in agreement\u201d with Obama\u2019s \u201cway of framing the search for solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cottier noted that many American bishops have been critical of Obama on abortion, writing that \u201con the one hand, those criticisms are justified, because \u2026 non-negotiable values are involved.\u201d Yet, he wrote, Obama offered \u201cpositive indications\u201d in his Notre Dame address of a desire to find common ground on the issue.<\/p>\n

Cottier argued that Obama has not defended abortion as an absolute right, that he recognizes the \u201ctragic gravity\u201d of the problem, that Obama does not defend \u201crelativism,\u201d and that \u201chis words move in the direction of reducing the evil\u201d by seeking to make \u201cthe number of abortions as small as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cottier invoked early Christian history to suggest that efforts to reduce the actual number of abortions, rather than to seek an outright legal ban, might be justifiable as a temporary expedient.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m reminded of the first Christian legislators, who didn\u2019t quickly abolish the tolerant Roman laws regarding practices which didn\u2019t conform to the natural law, or which were actually contrary to it, such as concubinage and slavery,\u201d Cottier wrote. \u201cChange happened along a slow path, often marked by steps backward, as the Christian population increased, and, along with them, the impact of a sense of the dignity of the human person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning, in order to guarantee the consent of the citizens and to protect social peace, the so-called \u2018imperfect laws\u2019 were kept in force, which avoided persecuting actions and behaviors in contrast with the natural law,\u201d Cottier wrote. \u201cSt. Thomas [Aquinas] himself, who certainly had no doubt that the law must be moral, added that the state must not enact laws which are too severe or \u2018high,\u2019 because they\u2019ll be disrespected by the people, who won\u2019t be able to follow them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitical realism recognizes evil, and calls it by its name,\u201d Cottier wrote. \u201cYet it also recognizes that one must be humble and patient, combating evil without the pretense of eradicating it from human history through instruments of legal coercion.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As always, head to the link<\/a> for the full text.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As if the warm words he’s getting from the Vatican newspaper weren’t enough, President Obama now has a prominent cardinal and former papal theologian in his corner. John Allen has details: In the run-up to President Barack Obama\u2019s much-anticipated July 10 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, an influential cardinal and Vatican adviser has praised Obama\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-and-politicians"],"yoast_head":"\nCardinal praises Obama's "humble realism" - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/07\/cardinal-praises-obamas-humble-realism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cardinal praises Obama's "humble realism" - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As if the warm words he’s getting from the Vatican newspaper weren’t enough, President Obama now has a prominent cardinal and former papal theologian in his corner. 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