After negotiating with Iran, Obama is downgrading relations with the Vatican...

Is Obama returning to his Muslim roots?

Via The Washington Times:

The Obama administration, in what’s been called an egregious slap in the face to the Vatican, has moved to shut down the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See — a free-standing facility — and relocate offices onto the grounds of the larger American Embassy in Italy.
The new offices will be in a separate building on the property, Breitbart reported.

And while U.S. officials are touting the relocation as a security measure that’s a cautionary reaction to last year’s attacks on America's facility in Benghazi, several former American envoys are raising the red flag.

It’s a “massive downgrade of U.S.-Vatican ties,” said former U.S. Ambassador James Nicholson in the National Catholic Reporter. “It’s turning this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy. The Holy See is a pivot point for international affairs and a major listening post for the United States, and … [it’s] an insult to American Catholics and to the Vatican.”

Holy War: Vatican elevates leading voice of Roman Catholic bishops opposing a contraception mandate

In a signal that could mean trouble for President Obama, the Vatican has elevated a leading voice of Roman Catholic bishops opposing a contraception mandate. Bishop William E. Lori as named Tuesday as the 16th archbishop of Baltimore, the nation’s first diocese.

Via ABC News:

The leading voice of Roman Catholic bishops opposing a contraception mandate in the Obama administration’s health care law was named Tuesday as the 16th archbishop of Baltimore, the nation’s first diocese.

Bishop William E. Lori, 60, comes from the Diocese of Bridgeport, Conn., and has testified before Congress several times in the past few months on a proposed measure to make religious employers cover contraception for their employees. The White House later backed off the rule, making insurers pay for the coverage, though many critics are still not satisfied.

In one instance in February, Lori drew an extended analogy between the mandate to cover contraception and a hypothetical mandate forcing all restaurants nationwide to serve pork, saying it is “absurd for someone to come into a kosher deli and demand a ham sandwich.”

When asked whether the Vatican was trying to move him closer to Washington, Lori joked about his frequent appearances before Congress.

“Yes, the Vatican decided that I was spending entirely too much time on the US Airways shuttle,” he said. “So, they moved me to Baltimore so I’m a train ride away.” Keep on reading...

Obama is having a hard time finding pro-life supporter to be US ambassador to the Holy See

Reportedly, all three candidates president Obama has proposed to the Vatican have been rejected by Pope Benedict XVI because of their pro-abortion stance. Has the Democratic party become so intolerant and bigoted on the issue of abortion they can not find one prominent pro-life supporter to appoint ambassador to the Holy See? By tradition, the post of US ambassador has always been held by pro-life Catholics under both Republican and Democrat administrations. According to BBC NEWS,

The Vatican has rejected at least three possible candidates proposed by Barack Obama to serve as US ambassador to the Holy See, say reliable sources in Rome.

None of the three candidates informally proposed by the Obama administration so far is acceptable to the Pope because of their support for abortion rights.

One of the potential nominees vetoed by the Vatican is Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the former US president.

Conservative Catholics in the US had already criticised her candidacy.

They say her outspoken pro-choice views on abortion made her an unsuitable choice.

The Vatican is unhappy about President Obama's support of abortion rights and his lifting of a previous ban on embryonic stem cell research in the US.