In recent weeks Barack Obama gave two important speeches in two very different university contexts. On 17 May he spoke at the University of Notre Dame, the Catholic university in Indiana where he had been invited to receive an honorary degree on graduation day for 2,900 students. On 4 June, in Cairo, at the Al-Azhar Islamic University, considered the main center of religious teaching in Sunni Islam, he gave a long speech addressed in particular to the Islamic world. Readmore…

I don’t want to make a political comment, which does not come within my sphere of competence, but I was struck by many aspects of the two speeches by the President of the United States. Apart from the individual topics touched on, they gave a glimpse of politics that can be usefully compared with fundamental elements of the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. Readmore…

In recent weeks Barack Obama gave two important speeches in two very different university contexts. On 17 May he spoke at the University of Notre Dame, the Catholic university in Indiana where he had been invited to receive an honorary degree on graduation day for 2,900 students. On 4 June, in Cairo, at the Al-Azhar Islamic University, considered the main center of religious teaching in Sunni Islam, he gave a long speech addressed in particular to the Islamic world. Readmore…