Vatican officials chide Obama

Well, it didn't take long - for Obama's pro-abortion agenda to surface, and for Vatican officials to respond.

On Friday, on his third day in office, Obama reversed the Mexico City policy that prohibited U.S. money from being used for abortion internationally, and cleared the way for the U.S. to provide funds to the U.N. that could help China continue its abortion policies.

On Saturday, Vatican officials reacted.

The Catholic New Agency reports on an interview in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera with the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Archbishop Rino Fisichella .

Archbishop Fisichella said that "among the many good things that he could have done, Barack Obama instead has chosen the worst."

"What is important is to know how to listen... without locking oneself into ideological visions with the arrogance of a person who, having the power, thinks they can decide on life and death," he added.

"If this is one of the first acts of President Obama, with all due respect, it seems to me that the path towards disappointment will have been very short," Archbishop Fisichella said.

And in a challenge to those who voted for him - including a number of Catholics - he said, "I do not believe that those who voted for him (Obama) took into consideration ethical themes, which were astutely left aside during the election debate. The majority of the American population does not take the same position as the president and his team."

Meanwhile, another Vatican official, Archbishop Elio Sgreccia, the former President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, told the Italian News agency ANSA that, "This deals a harsh blow not only to us Catholics but to all the people across the world that fight against the slaughter of innocents that is carried out with abortion."

I suspect this is only the beginning.

No wonder Obama did not invite any Catholics who follow Church teachings to take part in his Inauguration celebrations.