I’m still trying to wrap my head around how two seemingly unrelated items suddenly become related because Obama’s Fault™.
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), a Catholic, called it a “slap in the face” to America’s 78 million Catholics — particularly in the wake of the health law’s controversial mandate that employers cover birth control.
“The current Administration demonstrates time and time again an anti-Catholic bias starting with Obamacare, and this is just another example,” Grimm said in a statement. “Closing this embassy completely undermines our relationship with the Vatican and is an insult to Catholics throughout the United States. As a proud, practicing Catholic, I am deeply offended by the Administration’s announcement and urge them to reconsider this deplorable move.”
What?
I get it, he’s referring to the birth control mandate, but what does that have to do with moving (not closing) the Vatican embassy?
Furthermore, is Michael Grimm aware that 65 percent of Catholics support the birth control mandate?
And not to let it go unanswered, here’s the real story on whats happening in Rome.
There are no embassies for any country in Vatican City itself — there is simply no room. All countries locate their embassies in the city of Rome. The United States has decided to move its embassy from its current location — an unremarkable converted residence — to the same compound as the U.S. Embassy to Italy. It will have it’s own separate building and a separate entrance on a different street. The new building is actually a tenth of a mile closer to the Vatican than the old one. There will be no reduction in staff or activities.
