WASHINGTON: US President Barak Obama has appointed a ‘liberal’ Catholic, Judge Sonio Sotomayor (in picture) to the Supreme Court. It brings the number of Catholics on the Bench, to six, but the others are conservatives.

This leaves a mixed reaction among Catholics, who had expressed concern over Obama’s pro-choice stance on abortion. Head of the US Episcopate, Francis Cardinal George in March even disagreed with the Notre Dame University’s decision to award Obama an honorary degree. He called the action an “extreme embarrassment.”

But, on May 17, Obama turned around to say, “we should honour the conscience of those who disagree with abortion,” when he called for “new conscience” regulations for healthcare providers.

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