Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life and U.S. Catholic Bishops respond to Obama's repeal of the Mexico City Policy

The Associated Press reports that the Vatican has responded to Obama's repeal of the Bush Administration's "Mexico City Policy", ending a ban on federal funding for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on them:

Monsignor Rino Fisichella, who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life, urged Obama to listen to all voices in America without "the arrogance of those who, being in power, believe they can decide of life and death."

Fisichella said in an interview published Saturday in Corriere della Sera that "if this is one of President Obama's first acts, I have to say, in all due respect, that we're heading quickly toward disappointment."

Obama signed an executive order that ended the ban on Friday, reversing the policy of the Bush administration.

"This deals a harsh blow not only to us Catholics but to all the people across the world who fight against the slaughter of innocents that is carried out with the abortion," another top official with the Academy for Life, Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, told the ANSA news agency.

"Among the many good things that he could have done, Barack Obama instead chose the worst," he was quoted as saying Saturday.

See also: President Obama's Reversal of Mexico City Policy 'Very Disappointing,'
Says Pro-Life Committee Chair Justin Rigali United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. January 23, 2009.

Update

• The Vatican Slams Obama over Abortion, by Jeff Israely. Time January 26, 2009.