Abortion stand undermines Obama: cardinal

Cardinal Francis George told a gathering of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Monday that continued support for abortion rights will undermine any advances in social justice that come from a new president and Congress.

George, president of the bishops group, said: ''we must all rejoice'' that an African American will be in the White House for the first time in a country that ''once enshrined slavery'' in law.

But he said the U.S. still violates universal human rights by keeping abortion legal.

''The common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed at choice,'' George said.

His speech didn't directly address the policies of President-elect Barack Obama, who is Protestant, and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, who is Roman Catholic. Both men support abortion rights and take other stands that differ from Catholic teaching.

At a later news conference, George said bishops are preparing to lobby the Obama administration on policies that diverge from Catholic teaching on marriage, abortion and other issues.

AP