The New Republic versus Pope Benedict on Obama's Catholic problem

New Republic has a article up called Why The Catholic Vote May Hold The Key To The Election For Obama which address Obama's Catholic problem It is written by Michael Sean Winters who writes on the blog l site In All Things for America .

I left a comment on the American blog that has this up and said there is also the Pope Benedict view. In my comment waiting to be approved I said:

I also noticed that the obvious problems he has are left out. However from a pure secular political point of view of getting votes I suppose it's good advice.

This is Obama Catholic's problem and perhaps one might want to add the words of Pope Benedict just yesterday at World Youth Day

"And so we are led to reflect on what place the poor and the elderly, immigrants and the voiceless, have in our societies. How can it be that domestic violence torments so many mothers and children? How can it be that the most wondrous and sacred human space – the womb – has become a place of unutterable violence My dear friends, God’s creation is one and it is good. The concerns for non-violence, sustainable development, justice and peace, and care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity. They cannot, however, be understood apart from a profound reflection upon the innate dignity of every human life from conception to natural death"

Think that last line shows Obama Catholic problem if one looks beyond the political numbers game

I know that according to the Catholic for the Common Good and Catholics United that are engaged in the "new kind of politics" , devoid of "partisanship" (please see America Pod cast on this) except when it involves email smear campaigns against Republican (See yesterday's news as to Catholic United and Deal Hudson) that these are wedge issues. However I will stick with Holy Father.

But you make good points. Perhaps Obama can sell it.

Update on Pope Benedect and Obama's Catholic Problem

In remarks to the European People's Party on 30 March 2006, Pope Benedict XVI said the following:
As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable.(oh dear one those wedge thing Catholic United Talks About) Among these the following emerge clearly today:-

protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death;-

recognition and promotion of the natural structure of the family - as a union between a man and a woman based on marriage - and its defence from attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different forms of union which in reality harm it and contribute to its destabilization, obscuring its particular character and its irreplaceable social role;

- the protection of the right of parents to educate their children

Yikes. Go to Here to see in Obama's owns words how he has a Catholic problem