in 1994 of St. Thomas Seminary in Denver due to falling enrollment. Stafford decided to buy the seminary property and plan a brand new institution, St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. The new facility opened in 1999 under the guidance of Archbishop Charles Chaput. Career in the Roman Curia Stafford was appointed president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity on August 20, 1996, he became cardinal-deacon of Gesù Buon Pastore alla Montagnola Parish in Rome in the consistory of 1998. In 2003, Stafford was appointed major penitentiary, overseeing matters pertaining to indulgences and the internal forum of the Church. He was thus one of the highest ranking American members of the Roman Curia and the second one in that role. Stafford participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. Stafford submitted his letter of resignation to Benedict XVI on his 75th birthday in 2007. On June 2, 2009, Benedict XVI appointed as his successor Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, then apostolic nuncio to France. On March 1, 2008, Stafford took the option, after ten years as a cardinal deacon, for promotion to the rank of cardinal-priest, and was assigned the titular church of San Pietro in Montorio. In 2009, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology and inducted into their College of Fellows. Criticism of Barack Obama The online version of the National Catholic Reporter reported on November 19, 2008, that Stafford had criticized President-elect Barack Obama, saying he has "an agenda and vision that are aggressive, disruptive and apocalyptic". The story was first reported by The Tower, the student newspaper of the Catholic University of America, where Stafford made those remarks. Saying that the United States experienced a "cultural earthquake" when Obama was elected president, Stafford said the president-elect "appears to be a relaxed, smiling man" with rhetorical skills that are "very highly developed". "But under all that grace and charm, there is a tautness of will, a state of constant alertness, to attack and resist any external influence that might affect his will", he added. Stafford then predicted that the Obama administration would compare to "Jesus' agony in the Garden of Gethsemane". The Catholic News Agency revealed more details about Stafford's remarks on November 17, 2008: "If 1968 was the year of America's 'suicide attempt,' 2008 is the year of America's exhaustion," he said, contrasting the year of publication of