AP photo part of our political critique
Pope Francis and President Obama had a meet and greet today at the Vatican. Normally we would believe the Pope or any defense of the Pope vis-`a-vis Barack Obama. But today’s AP wire juxtaposed with the Vatican version has managed to confuse things. Because so many local outlets depend on AP, their uncorrected version will no doubt extend the misapprehension.
We recognize that it could be just the AP trying to play with what was said as regards summations from the Pope’s spokesmen (a.k.a. the Pope’s peeps) and Obama . . . creating drama by implying a mano e mano confrontation. For that perhaps we should be grateful as otherwise we are disappointed with the Pope’s performance. Here is what AP initially reported:
VATICAN CITY (AP) — President Barack Obama and the Vatican gave distinctly different accounts of the president’s audience with Pope Francis on Thursday, with Obama stressing their common ground on poverty and inequality but Vatican officials emphasizing concerns over Obama’s health care law, which mandates contraception coverage.
Obama described himself as “incredibly moved” by his nearly hour-long session with the popular pontiff. He said the two spent the most time discussing the plight of the poor and the marginalized as well as regions of conflict and the elusive nature of peace around the world.
The Vatican, in a statement shortly after the meeting, said discussions centered on questions of particular relevance for the church in the U.S., “such as the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection” — issues that have fueled divisions between Obama and the church.
Contraception coverage and religious freedom have been central to the church’s objections to Obama’s health care law, which is facing a challenge on those grounds before the Supreme Court.
But Obama said those discussions took place with the Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, not with Francis. “We actually didn’t talk a whole lot about social schisms in my conversations with His Holiness,” he added. “In fact, that really was not a topic of conversation.”
“I was grateful to have the opportunity to speak with him about the responsibilities that we all share to care for the least of these, the poor, the excluded,” Obama said later during a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Rome. “And I was extremely moved by his insights about the importance of us all having a moral perspective on world problems and not simply thinking in terms of our own narrow self-interests.”
The marked difference in emphasis introduced a perplexing element to the long-anticipated meeting, which the White House has looked forward to as way to validate Obama’s economic policies. In a report on Vatican Radio the day before the meeting, the Vatican had signaled that the divisive issues would indeed be on the agenda . . .
We certainly wish the implications of the AP article were accurate. But reading the official Vatican statement (English translation) the Obama version is credibly sustained (bold type our emphasis):
This morning, 27 March 2014, the Hon. Barack H. Obama, President of the United States of America, was received in audience by His Holiness Pope Francis, after which he met with His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States.
During the cordial meetings, views were exchanged on some current international themes and it was hoped that, in areas of conflict, there would be respect for humanitarian and international law and a negotiated solution between the parties involved. In the context of bilateral relations and cooperation between Church and State, there was a discussion on questions of particular relevance for the Church in that country, such as the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection, as well as the issue of immigration reform. Finally, the common commitment to the eradication of trafficking of human persons in the world was stated.
So the official Vatican summation is not necessarily in conflict with Obama’s version. They refer to “meetings” plural. The issue of the assault on religious freedoms being perpetrated by the Obama administration on Americans may have been relegated to the other meeting. The meeting with the Pope was then pretty much what Obama wanted. The other meeting can be dismissed by Obamaites as just policy disagreements on niggling matters, but together the two were largely simpatico.
And the gift that the Pope gave Obama – a bound copy of his recent “exhortation” Evangelii Gaudium which we have discussed previously and continue to analyze at the Pope’s invitation. While supposedly not its main theme, it strikes us as replete with Marxist thought or a very confused interpretation of economic systems.
The Pope should not pontificate as such until he can bless us with an honest comparative economic world view that does not so recklessly equivocate, morally and as regards comparative practical results of capitalism properly understood. Referring to something as unfettered capitalism that is neither capitalism or unfettered is wrong. What the Pope refers to as capitalism is instead just more big government thugocracy rewarding or protecting one group at the expense of others. That is not capitalism or free market and he should know better and it is hurtful not to make the distinction.
Handing Obama that book and the big grin it received, is worrisome in spite of the few strong pro-life paragraphs in it and its stated theme of “evangelizing.” That is because Pope Francis has also said that as a general topic in the Church, pro-life concerns should be de-emphasized, as if they were ever seriously emphasized. However the much more extensive Marxist narrative weaved into the book is right up Obama’s ally. No wonder the grin.
Viewing the panoply of pictures from the AP photographer, we also see a largely grinning enthralled greeting from the Vatican assemblage for Obama. How pathetic.
The Vatican represents 1.1 billion Catholics worldwide. That is three times the population of the United States. But as to a latter day answer to the question posed by Stalin . . . “How many divisions does the Pope have?” . . . none that this one will invoke in serious opposition to Obama’s declared war on basic religious freedoms of all Christians. The American Bishops are more cognizant of the existential threat posed by Obama and what he represents. But the little shuck and jive visit with the Pope went quite well for Obama. How really pathetic. R Mall
I find it quite depressing to consider just how closely the aims, views, and ideology of the Church’s current hierarchy align with those of Barack Obama. The Pope’s current “85%” popularity rating is alarmingly reminiscent of the “Obama phenomenon” of ’08.
The US bishops are on the record favoring amnesty for illegal immigrants and they supported Obamacare until they learned what was in it and even now seem to quarrel only with a couple of “social concerns” about which Pope Francis has cautioned his flock to “not obsess” over. The Pope and our President seem perfectly aligned on “social justice” and income inequality and wealth redistribution. And now, since Francis has a year under his belt, perhaps the folks in Oslo may feel it’s time for him to be awarded the Nobel Prize, thus continuing the parallel trajectory of these two leaders. And they both have a lot of “flexibility” since neither must again stand for reelection.
Yep. The whole thing is Twilight Zone creepy.