THE NATION - News from April 28, 2009
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A former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican said she wouldn’t accept the University of Notre Dame’s top honor at commencement next month because the Roman Catholic school invited President Obama to speak to graduates.
Harvard University law professor and antiabortion scholar Mary Ann Glendon said in a letter to the South Bend school’s president that giving Obama an honorary degree violated the U.S. bishops’ 2004 statement that Catholic institutions shouldn’t honor people whose actions conflict with the church’s moral principles.
Her letter was posted on the website of the conservative journal First Things. Glendon was ambassador to the Vatican during President George W. Bush’s administration.
Dozens of bishops have criticized the Obama invitation because of his support for abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research.
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