Thank you for posting this. I can't believe how the MSM has twisted this visit. I watched the whole thing on Fox yesterday AM, and although I could not understand most of what the Pope was saying, I was quite sure that he was not "scolding" the President, as the MSM would have us believe. On the contrary, he DID scold the American Bishops later in the day for not showing leadership to the American people on the subject of abortion, stem cell research, cloning, homosexual marriage, and euthanasia.
Thanks for the thanks. I do criticize statements made by John Paul and others in the Vatican. But at the same time, as you point out, it is wrong for any publications to lie by exaggerating and sensationalizing what happened.
As much as I disagree feminist and anti-American statements he's made, by John Paul's disposition of calm and thoughfulness, it's very doubtful that he used any scolding or "castigating" President Bush. I disagree with the criticisms in his statement, but they were only that--softly worded criticisms.
Times ahead might get tougher, although I hope that doesn't happen. Who will be the next Pope?
In any case, American, Indian, various Asian people--all Catholic people can continue to be Catholic, even if worst comes to worst.
I am not Catholic but have reverted to the Protestant faith of my earlier ancestors. But my great-aunt Sister Mary once said to my Baptist mother (and without being ecumenical at all), "If you can be a good Baptist, you could be a good Catholic." Jesus once said, "No man is good..."
But we should try, no?
BTW, my tagline has to do with so much "French" this and "French" that, because it blinds us to sentiment that is happening all over Europe. The tagline is derived from comments of many US soldiers in WWII (and with regards to D-Day). It's true that the French leadership and too many of its constituents are anti-American. But I've been debating with a British Conservative, recently--one of many who are nearly all anti-American while echoing the fascisms of their left. ...this, though most of my ancient genetic heritage is English, Nordic, and so forth. It's even worse in Germany. Most Europeans, from Norway to Spain, have been turned against us over the decades, because we neglected our duty of first defending our nation with convincing, true speech to the rest of the world (to counter commie speech). Such effort to speak (public affairs) is a necessary part of defense.
There is much writing and publishing to do.