Berlusconi Defuses Papal Audience Row (Italian Left Shows Its Anti-Catholic Colors)

CNN (Reuters) ^ | 3/7/2006 | n/a

[Pyro7480]

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -- Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he will not attend a meeting of European politicians with Pope Benedict this month after opposition leaders accused the Vatican of meddling in politics.

Berlusconi had been expected to go to an audience with members of the European People's Party but the announcement had sparked uproar amongst the opposition who said he should not be meeting the pope so close to the April 9-10 elections....

The center-left opposition had accused Berlusconi of looking to transform the audience at the end of March into a papal blessing for the centre-right coalition.

Throughout the day Berlusconi's political allies had defended his right to go to the meeting and accused the center-left of behaving with "visceral anti-clericalism"....

But the opposition center-left, which is some 4.5 percentage points ahead of Berlusconi's bloc in the opinion polls, said the Vatican should have declined the request to meet the EPP group.

"We respect and defend the right of the Church to address questions of values, but it is very serious to receive only one of the candidates for prime minister just ahead of the ballot," said Greens' Party leader Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio....

But some center-left leaders feel that Pope Benedict is playing a more active role in domestic politics than his predecessor John Paul II, and fear that if the Vatican takes sides ahead of April it could prove decisive in a close race.

[Pyro7480]

Berlusconi shouldn't have caved. But this whole ordeal demonstrates yet again the vicious nature of the Left.

[Pyro7480]

Catholic ping!

[Eagleami]

Double edged sword. Right-wing Catholics could find this move a tad bit insulting.

[The Red Zone]

He's Catholic and has a chance to meet the pope, what more reason needs to be given?

[monday]

"and would have been terribly unfair on the people opposing him."

...and the problem with that is?

[annalex]

Why unfair? Correct me if I am wrong, but usually the right wing is objectively closer to the Vatican than the left wing, so I suspect it is so in Italy. Why cannot a right wing politician enjoy and display that proximity?

[monday]

"It is not the place of foreign heads of state to "meddle" in the elections of independent nations."

BS. Everyone does it the the maximum extent they can. Most don't engage in obvious meddling because the results of that type of meddling usually cause the opposite of what was intended to occur. Still, that doesn't stop the US from meddling in more foreign elections than any other country on earth. They do it by the tried and true method of dollar diplomacy. They give the ruling party the funds necessary to stay in power. It is also one of the reasons the US is so reviled in certain parts of the world.

If the Pope wants to meddle in Italy's elections there isn't anything saying he can't. If he wanted to meet with the opposition right before the election you can bet they wouldn't be complaining then.

Face it. No one plays fair in politics. They only attempt to APPEAR to play fair.

[annalex]

Did the Pope volunteer for an election event, or did he agree to an audience? The article says the latter. Is Italian opposition going to tell the Pope, -- a foreign head of state, as you term him -- who to meet and who not to meet in his own city?

The way I view it, the Pope agreed to meet one leader and not the other. He could have chosen to meet the Left's leader (for example, because of his lifelong Catholicism, even though that is not a distinguishing charactristic in overwhelmingly Catholic Italy, or may be because of his opposition to the war in Iraq), or no leader, or both leaders, but it so happened that he chose to meet the Right's leader. It would be exactly proper for anyone the Pope meets to use the honor to his advantage. It would be as well proper for the Left to seek, but not demand, an audience.

Elected leaders have that advantage over the opposition: they get to meet heads of state and the event is often publicized. Let the leftist punks get elected first and then they can meet whoever would condescend to them.

[annalex]

fair

I disagree with this word in your post. It is fair to meet whoever you want to meet. If I like Jane over Jill and meet Jane, but not Jill, that is fair. If I meet someone who I don't like, then that is unfair to both Jane and Jill, and to the observing public.

[monday]

"If I meet someone who I don't like, "

Politics is about furthering your interests, usually at the expense of others. That said, why would you meet with someone you DIDN'T like and who would not further your interests? Doh?

[annalex]

Well, that is my point, except the Pope is not an elected politician. If the Pope does not want to meet with X, but meets with Y then it is perfectly fair to both X and Y, even if X benefits and Y suffers politically.