A Wanderer Commentary . . . The Hijacking Of L’Osservatore Romano

The Wanderer Press .Com ^ | Past Editions: 06 11 2009 | MARIELENA MONTESINO de STUART

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Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last — but that it was essential and inevi­table to torture to death only one tiny creature . . . and to found that edifice on its unavenged tears, would you con­sent to be the architect on those conditions? Tell me, and tell the truth — The Brothers Karamazov.

+ + + A dangerous and divisive precedent is being set by the hi­jacking of L’Osservatore Romano, at the hands of its editor, Giovanni Maria Vian. Vian has chosen, through his editorial position, to smooth out and present a positive and speculative view of what has been President Obama’s well- established sup­port of the culture of death.

Vian has emphasized in a positive light President Obama’s call for a “ common ground” as well as a palatable “ conscience clause” for those in the field of medicine who are against abor­tion. Vian has also declared that Obama “ is not an advocate of abortion.” As part of his editorial balancing act, L’Osservatore has mentioned the protests at Notre Dame University, and has also criticized Obama’s support of embryonic stem-cell research.

L’Osservatore Romano benefits from having editorial indepen­dence, but it also acts “at the service of the thinking of the pope” and works closely with the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, head­ed by Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone.

Vian, who has been the editor of L’Osservatore Romano since September 2007, seems to overlook the fact that over 60 bishops expressed their strong indignation over Notre Dame’s invitation to President Obama, as clear evidence that Cath­olic Americans are slowly hardening their attitude against Obama’s abortion stance. Vian, instead, has defended his benevolent view of Obama

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