The health care reform law passed in the United States marked "a needed and long awaited beginning" of bringing greater justice to all citizens, especially the most vulnerable, said an influential Jesuit journal. "Limited access to health care compromised in many ways the health of citizens and the country," said the journal, La Civilta Cattolica. It also said the different positions within the U.S. Catholic community over whether the measure should have been passed reflected a "clash" of differing opinions over how to implement church social teaching. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President The health care reform law passed in the United States marked "a needed and long awaited beginning" of bringing greater justice to all citizens, especially the most vulnerable, said an influential Jesuit journal. "Limited access to health care compromised in many ways the health of citizens and the country," said the journal, La Civilta Cattolica. It also said the different positions within the U.S. Catholic community over whether the measure should have been passed reflected a "clash" of differing opinions over how to implement church social teaching. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law by President Barack Obama March 23, is a continuation of efforts by U.S. presidents to introduce "measures that aim for greater justice for all citizens and, in particular, for the most vulnerable," the journal said. The Rome-based biweekly magazine is reviewed by the Vatican Secretariat of State before publication. The June 5 article, released to journalists June 3, was written by Italian Jesuit Father Andrea Vicini, a professor at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology of Southern Italy in Naples and visiting professor at the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College.
