U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican slams pro-life CRS critics
ROME, October 29, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Only four days after formally beginning his post as the new US ambassador to the Vatican, Ken Hackett, the former head of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) took a swipe at pro-life Americans who criticized CRS for funding groups promoting abortion and contraception. Hackett was interviewed days after presenting his credentials to Pope Francis.
When questioned about the rocky relations between the U.S. Bishops and the Obama Administration and how that might play out in his role at the Vatican, Hackett told the National Catholic Reporter that he felt no negative effects at all. “I believe there are far more issues where our government agrees with the Holy See as opposed to the relatively few areas of disagreement, and that's where I'll put my emphasis,” he said.
Allen also questioned Hackett about sharp criticisms CRS has received from American Life League and other organizations for their funding of pro-abortion groups. After praising CRS and claiming to have heard only praise and gratitude for CRS from Rome, Hackett threw a barb at critics of CRS.
“In general, I wouldn't put much stock in detractors who don't have mud under their toes because they haven't been working in the tough places,” he said.
American Life League’s Michael Hichborn responded to Hackett’s remark in an interview with LifeSiteNews. “Given that Ken Hackett raked in over $300,000 per year in the last two years he worked for an organization that ostensibly fights poverty, I have to wonder just how much mud he got under his toes," said Hichborn.
Tax filings from Catholic Relief Services indicate that Hackett received $322,394 in reportable compensation in 2011 and $325,000 in 2010.
Hichborn also noted that campaign records indicate that Hackett was a donor to the Obama campaign in 2012, well after “Obama made clear that he is waging a war against babies and the Catholic Church.” (Emphasis added - ED)
“Mr. Hackett wants to focus on ‘areas of agreement’ between the Obama administration and the Vatican, and overlook the slaughter of millions of innocents countenanced every year by this administration as part of its ‘human development’ strategy. How is any substantive dialogue on human rights and development supposed to occur when the administration categorically rejects the Catholic Church’s understanding of human rights, which she holds are rooted in the nature every human person from conception until death?”