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Since I only 'see' OR through the selection of articles that it chooses to post online everyday, I did not get to see the following
'denial' which was apparently tucked in an inside page and to which the editors obviously did not want to call attention to by posting it online - a practice very much in the manner of the New York Times and the Washington Post who will play up a false or misleading story for days on its front pages and then issue a correction or a denial using a one-paragraph item hidden deep within the newspaper where no one is likely to see it.

I might note that Rome-based John Thavis of Catholic News Service wrote a wrap-up story yesterday, 6/5, on 'Vatican media praise Obama's Cairo speech' [see post earlier on this thread] and did not refer to the OR 'denial' at all - either by (ideological) choice, or because he did not see it himself [even if the OR only has 8 pages].



OR denies 'conflict' with
US bishops and defends
its Obama coverage


June 5, 2009


L'Osservatore Romano has denied that its favorable treatment of US President Barack Obama suggests a view different from that of the US hierarchy.

An unsigned note in the June 5 issue of the Vatican newspaper says that article on Obama "did not intend to express appreciation for his positions on ethical questions."

L'Osservatore - which has come under criticism for publishing supportive articles on Obama, at a time when American bishops are heavily critical of the President's stand on the dignity of life-- says:

Obviously the Holy See and L'Osservatore Romano have been, are, and will be standing side by side with the bishops of the United States in their commitment to the inviolability of human life in whatever stage of its existence.


While this explanatory note is found on the inside pages of the Vatican newspaper, a more prominent story [the banner story on Page 1, in fact] in the same edition praises [uncritically, despite the many deliberate errors of fact, starting with inflating the population of US Muslims from at best 3 million to 7 million!] Obama's speech in Cairo on America's relations with Islam.




The OR 'steps back'
on Obama praise

by Francis Rocca
[IMG][/IMG]


VATICAN CITY, June 5 (RNS -) The official Vatican newspaper emphatically denied that its friendly coverage of President Barack Obama reflects any tolerance of his support for legalized abortion and embryonic stem cell research.

"In reporting on some recent statements and initiatives of the president of the United States, L'Osservatore Romano certainly did not intend to express appreciation for his positions on ethical questions," said an unsigned article in the paper's June 5 edition.

"Obviously the Holy See and L'Osservatore Romano have been, are, and will be standing side by side with the bishops of the United States in their commitment to the inviolability of human life in whatever stage of its existence."

Known as the "Pope's newspaper," L'Osservatore is under the direct authority of the Secretariat of State, which directs the Vatican's diplomatic relations, and reportedly vets articles on sensitive topics before publication.

The paper's coverage of Obama has been consistently friendly, and at times openly enthusiastic, since his election last November.

The paper published no reference to controversy over Obama's appearance at the University of Notre Dame last month until the day after the event, when it called the president's commencement speech there part of his "search for common ground" with opponents of legalized abortion.

That article failed to mention that about one-fifth of America's 350 Catholic bishops had publicly protested the invitation because of Obama's support for legalized abortion.

Friday's article said there was "no basis" to commentary that has "sought to exploit the newspaper's articles to make the teaching of the episcopate of the United States on the inherent evil of abortion appear an exercise in partisan politics, supposedly in contrast with a different strategy of the Holy See."

[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 14/02/2010 07:37]