Vatican gives tepid approval to Notre Dame speech

The Vatican today gave President Obama a cautious thumbs up for his Notre Dame speech, saying the president was looking for “common ground” on abortion.

From the Associated Press:

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano said Obama’s speech at the leading Catholic university on Sunday confirmed what he had said at a recent news conference–that signing the so-called Freedom of Choice Act in the U.S. Congress wasn’t his highest legislative priority. The bill would protect a woman’s right to have a child or end a pregnancy.

[snip]

The article didn’t mention the protest by dozens of U.S. Catholic bishops who denounced Notre Dame for honoring Obama because his abortion rights record clashes with fundamental church teaching.

Instead, it simply quoted Obama as inviting all Americans to work together to reduce the number of abortions and unwanted pregnancies, and concluded he was searching for common ground on the “delicate question of abortion.”

One’s got to think this is about as good as Obama could hope for coming out of the controversy, no?