If things had gone differently when Pope John Paul II died, President Obama could have been meeting with a black pope. Imagine the significance of that moment: the first black American president meeting the first black Pope. Well, the fact is that Benedict was chosen over candidates of color the last time around, so we are left with this meeting between the leader of the Free World and the leader of the world’s Catholics. What good comes from such a meeting as this?
It seems like a photo opportunity for the most part, at least at first glance. The picture I saw in my local paper here in New York featured a very conservatively dressed Michelle Obama, her head covered by a black veil, standing alongside the Pope as he exchanged papers with her conservatively dressed husband. It seemed such a reverential moment, and the respect and dignity the Obamas felt for the Pontiff were quite obvious.
We get the official version of things here. Yes, they spoke about abortion, stem cell research, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is as we should expect it to be: two world leaders talking about important matters of the day but, of course, there is and has to be much more to this story.
What I would like to have heard is what was really said behind closed doors, away from the press and the cameras and Michelle, her mother, and the children. This would have been the conversation I would like to have heard.
As President of the United States, I am sure Mr. Obama, representing millions of American Catholics (including Senator Ted Kennedy, from whom he brought a personal letter for the Pope), would have talked with the Pope about the reality of American life in regards to many things. Besides big topics like abortion and stem cell research, there are many other issues pressing for Americans today.
How can our children attend Catholic schools which continue to be too expensive for average people? What can be done about a shortage of priests and other religious? Would you at least consider thinking about an option to allow priests to marry after taking their vows? Do you understand the importance of young people using condoms, not as a means of birth control, but to avoid diseases that will kill them?
The Pope would have plenty of things to talk about as well. He could have asked Mr. Obama to consider ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That makes sense, but what about the wars happening right here at home? Can we condemn Iranians for killing a female protester in the streets without thinking about protesters who died right here in America at Kent State many years ago? What about our continued war on drugs? Is anything substantial being done to stop the flow of drugs in our streets?
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Article comments
1 - Ruvy
Victor,
Neither your president nor the bishop of Rome inspire much thought in the readers here, it seems.
Maybe old Joe Ratzinger ought to chase a skirt or two if he really wants to inspire (or get attention). The Blessed of Hussein doesn't need to buy that kind of trouble, from what little I've seen of his wife....
2 - Victor Lana
Ruvy, I've always respected your comments on my posts before, but I do not here. Would I suggest a rabbi ought to eat pork and cheeseburgers to inspire his flock? I think not.
3 - Wyoming Joe
Good article. Wasn't much press on Obama's diplomatic missions eastward huh? Too bad.
4 - Ruvy
Sorry, Victor.
I have no respect at all for the Nazi the Vatican has chosen for a leader. He is an appropriate leader for an institution that is rife with Jew-hatred - and he will lead the Vatican on a path true to its soul and goals - murdering off Jews and severing the branch of "Christianity" from the Hebrew tree from whence it arises. Karol Wojtyla was an exception, as was the man who became known as "John XXIII".
The Vatican (nota bene, I did not say "Catholics") is an enemy of the Jewish people. The Vatican has an agenda to destroy us. You do not have to believe me, though you would be wise to. And Joseph Ratzinger is a leader of those following that agenda.
It won't happen. The Vatican agenda will not succeed, as the Shi'a agenda will not succeed. But it is there, and it is being pursued even as I type these words.
5 - Silas Kain
I defer to the prophecies of St. Malachy. The Church is coming to an end. After this Pope there shall be one last Pope and the Church will be changed forever. Some believe it will be the Rapture. Others believe it will be a devastating cataclysm. I believe it will be the revelation of great Truths which will finally provide us with answers to questions which have been around since Abraham.
Insofar as the meeting of two "great" men, I agree that President Obama is a "great" man. Benedict XVI, on the other hand, is the last vestige of an arcane, archaic and all but dead belief system.