All of the ordinances of the Lord are just and the decrees trustworthy, the psalmist affirms this Sunday. Last Saturday the Vatican’s chief spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, S.J., said much the same thing of President Barack Obama’s legislative proposals and executive orders for curbing gun violence, saying they are a "step in a right direction."

Lombardi pointed out that 47 religious leaders have appealed to members of the U.S. Congress "to limit firearms that are making society pay an unacceptable price in terms of massacres and senseless deaths. I am with them," Lombardi said, in an editorial carried on Vatican Radio, giving the Vatican's moral support to the push for firearm regulations.

Obama is trying to rally support for reinstating a ban on assault weapons and requiring background checks on all gun sales. He faces stiff opposition in Congress and from powerful gun lobbies.

While massacres are "carried out by unbalanced or hate-driven persons, there is no doubt that they are carried out with firearms," the Vatican spokesman said. He renewed Vatican appeals for measures to fight "the production, commerce, and contraband of all types of arms," an industry fueled by "enormous economic and power interests."

Some conservative Catholic commentators criticized the comments. Phil Lawler wrote: “Father Lombardi appears badly informed about the American debate on gun control, and his argument is badly framed." But influential Catholics in support of new gun regulations said in their letter that people who consider themselves pro-life should support new gun control measures.

Homily hint: Is gun violence a “life” issue? In the 1980s Joseph Cardinal Bernardin of Chicago spoke of a "seamless garment" approach to ethics, encouraging Catholics to think broadly when embracing a pro-life positions, from womb to tomb. The vision of the seamless garment has never been more timely than in our troubled times.

Sources: Articles by the Associated Press, Joshua J. McElwee for the
National Catholic Reporter, and Phil Lawler for CatholicCulture.org