Bush met with the Pope Today!!! Since the fearless prediction of the the Holy Father giving Bush a public talking down too did not come to pass in April, most media is taking a snooze on the event. As well as many Catholic Blogs that think Bush is akin to Attila the Hun.
However not here. I suggest going to this page of the Ratzinger Forum that has a TON of pics and articles on the event. I will highlight this one that comes from a media that makes following the Pope their Business
The Pope shows consonance with Bush
by Massimo Franco Translated from June 13 2008
The meeting today between Benedict XVI and George W. Bush indicates the degree of change in Vatican-USA relations since the years of John Paul II. The 'familiar' protocol personally decided on by the Pope for today's meeting underscores his sympathetic receptiveness towards the American President, which was already evident when he visited the United States last April. It shows a Pontiff who does not mind going countercurrent, symbolically embracing a leader widely considered unpopular.
Not only that. Bush is nearing the end of his presidential mandate, and yet the Holy See has decided to receive him with fill honors - and more. To the point of arousing murmurs among some of the Roman Curia. Who do not seem to appreciate that the harmony between the two leaders comes above all from the resolve with which Bush has defended a pro-life stand on bio-ethical issues, and what his administration has invested in fighting worldwide disease including AIDS - doing so on his own, certainly not to please the Vatican!
Moreover, the differences that had divided the White House and the Vatican over the war in Iraq are apparently behind them. What both see as more important today is to rebuild Iraq and protect the religious minorities. On his recent trip, Benedict XVI openly praised the United States for its 'healthy secularity', and in turn earned the appreciation of the American public, far beyond all expectations. Especially having expressed himself repeatedly on the priest scandals that had cast such a shadow on the Church in the United States.
Thus, there was not much surprise when Bush's chief of protocol, Nancy Goodman Brinker, told journalists that Bush is 'a great fan of the Pope'. More surprising to many was the 'Americanophilia' that Benedict XVI has shown. [Though not a surprise who those who have followed his writings and statements before he became Pope.]
L’Osservatore Romano led up to the meeting earlier this week by publishing interviews with the Apostolic Nuncio to Washington, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, and with the Vatican's permanent observer at the United Nations in New York, Archbishop Celestino Migliore. Sambi remarked that the conversation between Bush and the Pope at the White House last April "was of a private nature - we know what was made public, but we cannot rule out that they discussed other topics".
Some have interpreted his words, perhaps far beyond his intentions and what the situation merits - such as conjecture that the Methodist Bush may convert to Catholicism. Also notable was that the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household saw fit to publish, in Italian and English, a booklet describing the "Protocol for the Reception" of today's private meeting.
Bush's visit with the Pope - and its extraordinary features - sealed two gratifying days in Rome for the US President, who met with President Napolitano and his old friend and ally, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, yesterday - despite a demonstration by hundreds protesting the Iraq war. For the Vatican, it was not only a new point in relations with this outgoing administration, but also of sympathy and token of goodwill towards the next President of the United States.
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