After We Win This Election, It’s Our Turn. Payback Time! – Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Barack Hussein Obama

Just when you think that Obama and his minions have pulled all of the dirty tricks that they possibly can….they surprise you…and pull another one.

Or, as Bullwinkle J. Moose said to Rocket J. Squirrel,

Hey, Rocky…wanna see me pull a rabbit out of my hat?

Rocky:  Again?

The Holy See is the diplomatic representative of the Roman Catholic Church and the Pope with its headquarters in Vatican City. The United States maintained a presence in Rome throughout the nineteenth century. The United States at different times had a Minister to the Papal States, Minister to the Pontifical States, and finally, a Minister to Rome from 1848 until Kingdom of Italy conquered Rome in 1870. Throughout much of the twentieth century, successive U.S. Presidents sent a Personal Representative to the Holy See.

The United States Embassy to the Holy See is located on the Aventine hill in the beautiful Villa Domiziana, a private residence, built in 1953. In 1994 the United States government bought the property and turned it into the new chancery for the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.

Formal diplomatic relations with the Holy See were begun in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II. The mission works in partnership with the Holy See on global issues including HIV/AIDS, world hunger, religious freedom and human rights.

However, the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, wants to close the Vatican Embassy.

According to the National Catholic Reporter…

Plans to move the U.S. embassy to the Vatican onto the grounds of the larger American embassy to Italy, though in a separate building and with a distinct entrance, are drawing fire from five former American envoys despite the tacit consent of the Vatican itself.

Justified primarily on the grounds of enhanced security, the move is described by former U.S. Ambassador James Nicholson, who’s also a former Secretary of Veterans Affairs in the Bush administration and a former chair of the Republican National Committee, as a “massive downgrade” in U.S./Vatican ties.

“It’s turning this embassy into a stepchild of the embassy to Italy,” Nicholson said.

“The Holy See is a pivot point for international affairs and a major listening post for the United States,” he said, “and to shoehorn [the U.S. delegation] into an office annex inside another embassy is an insult to American Catholics and to the Vatican.”

Nicholson, who spoke in an interview Wednesday with NCR, joins former Bush envoys Francis Rooney and Mary Ann Glendon as well as Raymond Flynn, the first Clinton ambassador, and Thomas Melady, who served the first President Bush, in objecting.

“In the diplomatic world, if you don’t have your own separate space, you’re on the road to nowhere,” said Rooney, who served as ambassador from 2005 to 2008. He’s author of The Global Vatican, a new book on U.S./Vatican relations.

While the move has not yet been publicly announced, a contract for renovations to the new facility has been awarded, and it’s tentatively scheduled to open in January 2015. The embassy is presently located in a building near Rome’s Circus Maximus, roughly 3 miles away from the other American diplomatic facilities in the city.

Although the Vatican traditionally has insisted that countries maintain embassies in distinct locations as a way of underscoring its autonomy, signals in this case suggest it won’t protest the relocation.

On background, a senior Vatican official told NCR on Monday that safety is a “real concern,” especially in the wake of a lethal June 2012 assault on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that claimed the lives of an American ambassador and three other officials. A U.S. State Department report after that assault recommended consolidating facilities wherever possible.

The all-encompassing excuse of “security concerns” is a catch-all in this case. The Obama Administration has been attempting to marginalize the Catholic Church in America for quite a while now.

Obama and his Adminstration expect Catholic Institutions to go against their faith, in deference to what they perceive to be a “higher power”: Obamacare.

The Catholic League shot back in January of 2012…with both barrels.

The following was our response to the announcement of the Obama administration’s edict mandating coverage of sterilization and contraceptive services in most healthcare plans:

Secretary of HHS Kathleen Sebelius said that aside from houses of worship, all other religious agencies and organizations will be required to provide sterilization and contraceptive services, including abortifacients, in their employee healthcare plans; none will be allowed to charge co-pays or deductibles. The policy goes into effect in August 2013 for these entities.

Sebelius explained how her directive applies to non-church religious entities such as Catholic hospitals and universities: “Employers wishing to take advantage of the additional year must certify that they qualify for the delayed implementation. This additional year will allow these organizations more time and flexibility to adapt to this new rule.” She also said, “I believe this proposal strikes the appropriate balance between religious freedom and increasing access to important preventive services.”

That this edict was being announced in an election year indicates both contempt for the First Amendment and plain stupidity.

Things have not gotten any better in this “strained relationship”. 

In fact, in a related note, the Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will hear arguments concerning the requirement that employers offer access to contraception coverage. The two case being presented are both private companies, Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties whose owners are Christians who refuse to provide free contraception coverage, as that practice would go against their Christian Faith.

I find it quite revealing that, while Obama is requiring nothing from the murderous, barbaric country of Iran, and deemed his Nuclear Negotiations a “success”, he is not willing to negotiate with Christian Americans,who are simply standing for Christ, in defense of their faith and their right to Religious Freedom.

Priorities…and petulance.

Until He Comes,

KJ