Statement by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson: On the Meeting Between Pope Benedict XVI...

Statement by Supreme Knight Carl Anderson: On the Meeting Between Pope
Benedict XVI and President Barack Obama

NEW HAVEN, Conn., July 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The speculation over what the pope
and president would discuss, and whether or not abortion would be center stage
has been answered affirmatively. As the Vatican's statement makes clear "the
conversation turned first of all" to issues "such as the defense and promotion
of life, and the right to abide by one's conscience."

We also know that President Obama told the pope of his desire to "reduce the
number of abortions," and of his "respect for the positions of the Church."

It is obvious that President Obama has a serious interest in engaging in a
meaningful dialogue with the Catholic Church, and with Catholics, who make up
one fourth of the U.S. population. President Obama clearly had much to gain
from a successful meeting with the Pope.

Certainly this is another achievement for Vatican and American diplomacy and
represents a positive development for those of us who hoped that this meeting
might mark a new opportunity in the important relationship between the
Catholic Church and U.S. government.

We applaud President Obama for showing sensitivity to the growing consensus
among the American people favoring the right to life, restriction of abortion,
and the protection of conscience.

As our Knights of Columbus-Marist Poll released today shows, there is a great
deal of common ground among the American people on these issues. 86% would
restrict abortion far more than it is today, and 79% would protect the right
to conscience of health care workers. This is a real consensus on the heart of
the abortion issue, and it is heartening to see the president's attention to
it.

This is an important moment. The pope and the president have laid the
foundation for trying to achieve authentic common ground. How we build on this
meeting in a constructive way in the months and years ahead is critical. The
following issues will help provide a true gauge of the progress made on
achieving common ground with the Catholic community:

1. Adoption of a federal conscience clause regulation that gives real
protection to Catholic institutions and individuals;

2. Health care legislation that does not contain a back door mandate for
abortion;

3. Abortion reduction programs that respect pro-life crisis pregnancy and
teenage abstinence programs;

4. Preservation of the pro-life riders that currently exist in the annual
appropriations legislation. These riders, which restrict federal abortion
funding, also raise conscience protection issues, since their removal would
force tax payers to pay for abortions against their conscience.

5. Dropping any attempts to codify by statute the president's rescission of
the Mexico City Policy, which allows international abortion funding by the
United States.

SOURCE Knights of Columbus

Andrew T. Walther, Director of Media Relations of Knights of Columbus, cell,
+1-203-824-5412