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Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The president of the national conference of Catholic bishops recently elaborated further on the meeting he had in March with President Barack Obama. Cardinal George told a recent gathering of Catholic priests that Obama says he is not pro-abortion and will eventually work to reduce abortions.
For most pro-life advocates, Obama's extensive pro-abortion record of executive orders and key political appointments proves otherwise.
According to a Catholic News Service report, Cardinal Francis George discussed the conversation he had with Obama at a March 18 meeting at the White House.
"I think on the life issue he's on the wrong side of history," the cardinal said, but he added that Obama wants to make pro-life advocates appear as if he is on their side.
"It's hard to disagree with him because he'll always tell you he agrees with you," he said, according to CNS. "Maybe that's political. I think he sincerely wants to agree with you. You have to say, again and again, 'No, Mr. President, we don't agree (on abortion).'"
The Catholic News Service indicates Cardinal George said he told Obama he is concerned with the president's decision to overturn the Mexico City Policy and opening the door to funding groups that promote and perform abortions in other nations.
"He said we weren't exporting abortion," the cardinal recounted. "I said, 'Yes we are.' He would say, 'I know I have to do certain things here. ... But be patient and you'll see the pattern will change.' I said, 'Mr. President, you've given us nothing but the wrong signals on this issue.' So, we'll see, but I'm not as hopeful now as I was when he was first elected."
"I think he has his political debts to pay, and so he's paying them," Cardinal George said of the impression he was left with after the Obama meeting.
Ultimately, the Catholic pro-life leader cast a pessimistic view of the situation under Obama and the long-term outlook.
"I think we're up against something a little bit like slavery," he said, adding that Obama and abortion advocates are unwilling to change the law to protect human life before birth.
"It's a society-dividing issue, and on this issue, we're with Abraham Lincoln and he's with Stephen Douglas, and he doesn't like to hear that, but that's where he is," George said, according to CNS.
"For 80 years we were a slave republic, and it took a terrible war to end that. And now for 40 years we're in an abortion regime, and I'm not sure how that's going to end," he added.
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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania, April 28, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Philadelphia's Cardinal Justin Rigali, Chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, weighed in on the Notre Dame scandal in an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews.com today. Rigali called the school's decision to honor President Obama a "most unfortunate" decision that "must not happen again," and criticized the school's defense of the decision as one that "evades common sense."
President Obama is due to give the commencement address and receive an honorary law degree at Notre Dame May 17.
"My reaction is that it is most unfortunate," said Rigali. "It's most unfortunate because of the confusion it causes; it's most unfortunate because of the message that it gives with regard to the importance of human life; it's most unfortunate in regard to the confusion that it causes also in the ordinary people - the students, the graduates, the families ... but above all, it is most unfortunate because the value that is attributed to life through the recognition of an honorary degree in this regard is just not acceptable."
Asked to give his opinion on the unprecedented backlash from U.S. bishops and thousands of Catholic laity over Notre Dame's decision, Rigali said he believes that "something very positive is going on in our country along with all the negative things - that there is a greater and evolving understanding of the value of human life in many, many people."
"The backlash is due to a great extent the reaction of people who through their intuition, through their common sense, they know that this is just not an acceptable way to take a position on something that is so important," he said. . .