Canon legal scholar Dr. Nicholas Cafardi resigned yesterday from Franciscan University of Steubenville’s board of trustees, after publicly supporting pro-abortion Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.Franciscan University sent Lifesitenews.com an updated statement acknowledging the resignation, stating, “University President Father Terence Henry, TOR, accepted his resignation on behalf of the Board of Trustees, expressing his gratitude for the many ways Dr. Cafardi has assisted and advised Franciscan University over the years.”
Last week Dr. Cafardi, a “staunchly anti-abortion” professor at Duquesne University, published his reasons for endorsing Barack Obama, whom some have called the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in American history. Cafardi claimed that voting for the pro-choice candidate was a matter of “prudential judgement.” Franciscan University, however, immediately published a statement distancing the school from Cafardi’s views. (See http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/oct/08100606.html).
In its response, Franciscan stated that it “strongly encourage its … constituents to view the life issues … as foundational, and as issues that do not lend themselves to the prudential judgment of the voter.”
Franciscan also noted, “The University does not believe the abortion battle is lost, as Dr. Cafardi states, but that the tide is decidedly turning in favor of life.”
