Bwahahahahahahahahaha! If that heretic McBrien, who has developed an allergy to his clericals since being ordained, told you what time it was you'd be well advised to get a second opinion.
Posted on 03/20/2008 1:38:43 PM PDT by Incorrigible
By TOM FEENEY
[Newark, NJ] -- On social issues like abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research, the conservative Pope Benedict XVI and the conservative President Bush find much common ground.
But next month, when Benedict makes his first visit to the U.S., his meeting with Bush is likely to underscore an issue where there remains a deep divide between the Vatican and the White House — the war in Iraq.
From the start of the five-year-old war, the pontiff and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, have spoken out against it. "Nothing positive comes from Iraq," Benedict said during his Easter message last year.
Benedict will be greeted by Bush when his plane lands April 15. The pair will meet the next day to kick off the pope's six-day U.S. visit that includes a Mass at Yankee Stadium and a speech at the United Nations. Observers expect the Iraq war will come up during the White House visit.
"If it doesn't, I'd be disappointed in the pope," said the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. "If it does, however, I would expect Benedict XVI to be a bit softer in his approach than John Paul II. But the effect will be the same, namely, the war will continue through the remainder of the president's second term."
Meetings between popes and sitting U.S. presidents have become fairly common over the past four decades. During that same period, popes also have become more likely to speak out against war, experts say.
Shortly after the end of World War I, during a tour of Europe, Woodrow Wilson became the first U.S. president to meet with a pope while in office when he had an audience with Pope Benedict XV.
The next papal audience for a sitting U.S. president wouldn't come for another 40 years, when Dwight Eisenhower met in Rome with Pope John XXIII.
Since then, every U.S. president has met with the pope. Ronald Reagan met seven times and Bill Clinton four with Pope John Paul II. The upcoming papal meeting will be the fifth for Bush.
"What is most important here is how Catholic teaching on war has been changing in the post-World War II era, especially since John XXIII's 1963 encyclical, 'Pacem in Terris,'" said Una Cadegan, a professor of history and director of the American studies program at the University of Dayton.
"The unique destructiveness of modern warfare makes it almost indefensible even within the tradition of Christian just war theory, and popes have been speaking out increasingly strongly about non-violent means of resolving conflict, the importance of diplomacy and the need to seek justice as a way of cultivating lasting peace."
Benedict's public statements against the war date to the time before he became pope.
When he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he dismissed the idea that a preventive strike against Iraq could be considered a just war.
"The concept of a 'preventive war' does not appear in the 'Catechism of the Catholic Church,'" he said in interviews in the months leading up to the war.
This will be the second meeting between Benedict and Bush.
The Iraq war was a topic of conversation at the first, which took place last summer at the Vatican. The pope told Bush he was concerned about the "worrying situation in Iraq."
"We didn't talk about 'just war,'" Bush told reporters after meeting with Benedict. "He did express deep concerns about the Christians inside Iraq, that he was concerned that the society that was evolving would not tolerate the Christian religion."
Chester L. Gillis, the Amaturo chair in Catholic studies at Georgetown University, said he doesn't expect next month's meeting between Bush and Benedict to be terribly contentious.
"I think in general they agree on more things than they disagree on," he said. "I think the pope is probably pleased with a lot of the positions the president has taken on moral issues."
He said he expects the pope to discuss Iraq and possibly even to caution Bush against American aggression against Iran.
"The reality is we have a lame-duck president," Gillis said. "Benedict's bringing up his opposition to the war in Iraq does not mean there's going to be a change in American policy."
* * *
Pope Benedict XVI's U.S. itinerary (all times Eastern):
TUESDAY, APRIL 15
Arrival at Andrews Air Force Base. Greeting by President Bush and Mrs. Bush. Also present will be local dignitaries of the church and the apostolic nuncio, a diplomatic representative between the Holy See and the U.S.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 10:30 A.M.
President Bush and the first lady meet Benedict on the south lawn of the White House. This is only the second time in history that a pontiff has visited the White House. At the end of the welcoming ceremony, a private meeting is scheduled between the pope and the president.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 5:30 P.M.
Private prayer service and meeting with the 350 bishops of the United States at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Before the prayer service, which will be held in the crypt of the Shrine, there will be outdoor photo opportunities of the public welcoming the pope to this national church.
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 10:00 A.M.
The pope will celebrate Mass at the new Nationals Park in Washington. This will be the first non-baseball event in the park.
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 5 P.M.
The heads of the more than 200 Catholic colleges and universities in the U.S. and superintendents from the 195 Catholic dioceses have been invited to an address by Benedict on the importance of Catholic education. The address will be on the campus of The Catholic University of America, the only college in the U.S. operated by the bishops.
THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 6:30 P.M.
Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Jews and representatives of other religions will meet the pope at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center, next door to Catholic University.
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 10:45 A.M.
The pope will address the United Nations after an early morning flight to New York.
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 6 P.M.
Prayer service with leaders from other Christian denominations at St. Joseph's Church, founded by German Catholics, in Manhattan.
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 9:15 A.M.
Mass for priests, deacons and members of religious orders at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan.
SATURDAY, APRIL 19, 4:30 P.M.
The pope will meet with young Catholics, including 50 youngsters with a range of disabilities, at St. Joseph Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y. Thousands of young people, including hundreds of seminarians, are expected to participate in a rally/prayer service and to hear the pope speak.
SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 9:30 A.M.
The pope will visit Ground Zero, the site of the disaster at the World Trade Center.
SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 2:30 P.M.
Mass at Yankee Stadium will bring this historic visit to a close. The 200th anniversary of the Baltimore Archdiocese's designation as an archdiocese, as well as the birth of four dioceses — Boston; New York; Louisville, Ky.; and Philadelphia — will be highlighted during the Mass.
SUNDAY, APRIL 20, 8 P.M.
The pope leaves JFK International Airport for Rome.
(Tom Feeney is a staff writer for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. He can be contacted at tfeeney(at)starledger.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
Given Osama bin Laden's recent comments about the Pope, perhaps Pope Benedict XVI should be speaking to President Bush about an actual Crusade.
Bush to Pope: I appreciate your comments. Lets say you mind your business and I’ll mind mine.
I certainly never heard Benedict call for a US withdrawal from Iraq. He knows better.
This "Una Cadegan" creature, who said the above, is remarkably ignorant of modern warfare. She seems to be fixated on WMD. She seems unaware of recent developments in precision targeting and unmanned surveillance, both of which limit destruction to legitimate military targets and minimize collateral damage.
If she opposes the current war against Al Qaeda in Iraq, she would do well to limit her comments to disputing the causus belli.
I defy her to find a war the conduct of which is more in line with eh jus in bello criteria of Just War Doctrine.
For some odd reason, Saddam didn't listen.
The article’s title (”A chasm over Iraq”) is very misleading. The article contains very little content about the Pope’s stance on Iraq. It does contain a lot of quotes from other people and speculation about what the Pope might think. Nowhere in the article is there any factual support given to the notion that there is a “chasm over Iraq” between the Pope and President Bush.
We're the MSM!!!
We don't need no STEENKIN' facts!
Why have you not said anything about the food supply of southern Italy being poisoned by the criminals by spreading the toxic waste that they have contracts for from the north of the EU?
If you want to live with the Islamic terrorist then move to their land, if not then the only way to avoid a return to the dark ages and to destroy the civilization of the West is to fight the terrorist and win the war then there can be peace. You must know that there can be NO peace without victory.
Since then, PGMs have been proven real and precision guidance has even been applied to nukes, leading to much smaller nukes. And the whole idea of a MAD type war has more or less faded.
The religious left just hasn't caught up. They like to prattle about folks being stuck in a "cold war mentality".
They should know ... technologically they're stuck in the '50s.
So much for papal infallibility.
Well, whatever. I wouldn’t expect Bush to lecture the Pope on how to hold a mass, either.
Bwahahahahahahahahaha! If that heretic McBrien, who has developed an allergy to his clericals since being ordained, told you what time it was you'd be well advised to get a second opinion.
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