Speaking on CNBC on Wednesday,
President Barack Obama praised Pope Francis' recent remarks on gays
and abortion.
Francis said in an interview last month
that the Catholic Church had “locked itself up in small things”
by obsessing over abortion, contraception and homosexuality.
CNBC's John Hardwood asked the
president: “Pope Francis said the other day that the Catholic
Church without changing the church's positions has become too
obsessed on issues like gay rights and abortion. What do you think
of the pope's remarks and do you see any broader applicability beyond
the Catholic Church?”
“I tell you, I have been hugely
impressed with the pope's pronouncements,” Obama
answered. “Not because of any particular issue. First of all,
you're seeing somebody who lives out the teachings of Christ –
incredible humility, incredible sense of empathy to the least of
these, to the poor. And he's also somebody who's, I think, first and
foremost thinking how to embrace people, as opposed to push them
away. How to find what's good in them, as opposed to condemn them.
And that spirit, that sense of love and unity seems to manifest
itself in not just what he says but also what he does. For any
religious leader, that's a quality I admire. I would argue for any
leader, period, that's a quality that I admire.”