(CNS News) – President Barack
Obama’s policies “have become progressively more hostile toward Christian
civilization,” Cardinal Raymond Burke, head of the highest court at the
Vatican, said in a recent interview.
Cardinal Burke added that Obama
wants to restrict religious freedom and force the individuals, outside of his
or her place of worship, “to act against his rightly-formed conscience, even in
the most serious of moral questions.”
In an interview first published in
Polish in Polonia Christiana magazine and republished
exclusively in English at LifeSite News, Cardinal Burke, the former
archbishop of St. Louis, was asked about President Obama’s policies towards
Christian civilization and if there are any “Catholic reactions against this
policy? If yes, what are they, [or] if not, why?”
Cardinal Burke, who heads the
Apostolic Signatura, the highest court at the Vatican, said: “It is true that
the policies of the president of the United States of America have become
progressively more hostile toward Christian civilization. He appears to be a
totally secularized man who aggressively promotes anti-life and anti-family
policies.”
“Now he [Obama] wants to restrict
the exercise of the freedom of religion to freedom of worship; that is, he
holds that one is free to act according to his conscience within the confines
of his place of worship but that, once the person leaves the place of worship,
the government can constrain him to act against his rightly-formed conscience,
even in the most serious of moral questions,” said Cardinal Burke.
He continued, “Such policies would
have been unimaginable in the United States even 40 years ago. It is true that
many faithful Catholics, with strong and clear leadership from their Bishops
and priests, are reacting against the ever-growing religious persecution in the
U.S.”
“Sadly, one has the impression that
a large part of the population is not fully aware of what is taking place,”
said the cardinal. “In a democracy, such a lack of awareness is deadly.
It leads to the loss of the freedom, which a democratic government exists to
protect. It is my hope that more and more of my fellow citizens, as they
realize what is happening, will insist on electing leaders who respect the
truth of the moral law as it is respected in the founding principles of our
nation.”
As CNSNews.com has reported, the
Catholic bishops of the United States have stated that the Obamacare mandate
requiring individuals (and businesses) to carry health insurance that offers
contraceptives, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs without co-payments
is an “unjust and illegal mandate.”
They have also declared the mandate
a “violation of personal civil rights,” and that it should be “rescinded.”
“The mandate continues to represent
an unprecedented (and now sustained) violation of religious
liberty by the federal government,” said the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops (USCCB).
“As applied to individuals and organizations
with a religious objection to contraceptive coverage, the mandate violates the
First Amendment,” they said.
In a 2012 letter on the issue, sent
to parishes across the country to be read at Sunday Mass, the bishops said, “We
cannot – we will not – comply with this unjust law.”
So far, 94 lawsuits have been filed
against the Obamacare mandate and the Department of Health and Human Services,
by a variety of plaintiffs. In several dozen of those lawsuits, the courts have
granted the plaintiffs an injunction, meaning they do not have to comply with
the mandate as their case moves through the courts. Some of those cases are
headed to the Supreme Court.
Next Tuesday, Mar. 25, the
U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to start hearing arguments in the
case, Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.
Source: http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/vatican-chief-justice-obama-s-policies-progressively-more-hostile#sthash.v7BiNNbm.dpuf
See more at:
http://www.teaparty.org/vatican-chief-justice-obamas-policies-progressively-hostile-toward-christian-civilization-37489/#sthash.4rkqiT6d.dpuf
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