Posted on 05/20/2009 3:37:33 AM PDT by markomalley
The White House disclosed over the weekend that President Barack Obama is to make a weeklong foreign tour in July that will include Russia, Italy and Ghana. However, noticeably missing from the list is the Vatican.
It’s been widely thought that Obama would visit Pope Benedict XVI when the president attends the G8 summit in the Italian town of L’Aquila July 8-10. But there was no mention of the Holy Father or the Holy See in the statement, despite the fact that, according to sources in Rome, the president will be staying at the residence of the U.S. ambassador to Italy in Rome.
The White House says the reason is because the precise details of his tour have yet to be worked out. “We won’t go into the details of who he’s meeting and the places he’ll be visiting until nearer the time,” said a spokesman, adding that the president’s “primary purpose” for coming to Italy is the G8 summit. “I imagine as we get substantially closer to the date, we’ll have more details.”
The Vatican is hopeful of a presidential visit. Father Ciro Benedettini, deputy director of the Vatican Press Office, told me the Holy See is “waiting” to hear from the administration but noted the U.S. embassy to the Holy See is still without an ambassador.
Father Benedettini said it’s usual for a visiting head of state to visit the Holy Father when passing through Rome, but he added that so far “nothing concrete” had been planned. According to Rome sources, just over a week ago the Vatican had still not received “first contact” from the administration to start visit preparations.
In all likelihood, Obama will have an audience with the Pope. But the fact that the Vatican was not on the itinerary released over the weekend, that steps have hardly been taken to arrange a meeting, and that a Vatican ambassador has yet to be appointed is perhaps revealing of how low down on the list of priorities the Holy See is at the White House.
Baraq Hussein mohammed 0bama qualifies.
You’re prolly right.
I for one would not want the evil one to defile the Vatican with his? presence.
Bigot.
“Bigot”?
Very interesting AND RELEVANT comment!
What’s your point?
That you are a bigot.
Obama as much as declared himself Pope on Sunday. Why should he need to visit that old figurehead in Rome?
"Tell my brother Joseph that my divisions are in heaven" -- Pius XII
"It burns! IT BURNS! AAAHHH! (Non-human voices:) What do you want with us! We know who you are, priest! Leave us!"
My relatives did exactly that. They viewed the Notre Dame reception as an official endorsement by the Catholic church.
LOL
I am a bigot?
I call that a clueless insult which doesn’t make a point!
Libtards are used to launch insults instead of arguments in order to disqualify and undermine their opponents....
I don’t know if you are a libtard but i can see that you have no arguments and can see that Mr.O. is very far from Catholic constant teachings and that he is not very concerned by the christian foundamental values which built USA....
If i was stupid i could also tell you are a bigot....But i try not to be stupid!
BTW i think that many libtards are lunatic bigots and some are trying to mix up courage and bigottry!....
People were wondering why the Vatican did not come out loudly against Obama the anti-life Kenyan speaking at Duke. It is called diplomacy. Look where it got them.
Then he'd best not set foot anywhere in Rome - they're everywhere. It's lovely.
Leaving out the possibility that Obama doesn't even KNOW any pro-life Catholics, I don't think one would be willing to serve under his administration. I try to imagine how I'd be able to reconcile the two positions, and it's impossible. I think we're looking at four years without an envoy to the Holy See. Very sad.
I don’t believe Petronski is a ‘libtard’—from participating in other religious themed threads he/she seems to be VEHEMENTLY pro-Pope, pro-Catholic Church, and does not like to see ANY negativity directed at either icon and will defend them to the end of time. If you are saying something negative against either of them, then that makes you an anti-Catholic bigot in Petronski’s eyes IME.
Just a heads up on a fellow FReeper.
I am myself a “catholic” trying to be free and sensible...
In other words i can sometimes criticize the pope and the catholic church and appreciate sometimes evangelicals and other christian church(protestants,orthodox...)and some sensible jews and good will agnostics.
Beside medicine i studied about 5 years philosophy and theology in order to be a catholic priest.
BTW i am saying that MANY catholics(not all)are becoming kind of libtards whining endless victims bowing under the harsh pressure of the islamic pressure/surge all over the world meanwhile western secularist societies don’t want to recognize,and try to cancel,their judeo-christian legacy...
The catholic vote for OBAMA and what happened in N.Dame college lately....is for me typical of the above
I hear you! It IS stunning to hear HolyO’s support and major love coming from supposedly ‘devout’ Catholics (I saw some interviews with students on campus who off-handedly dismissed his radical abortion stands because ‘other than that little thing’, he was a really nice likeable guy who was trying hard to help all ‘the little suffering people’ out there in America-land—wha...?!? :-O
I get the same feeling when I see the Jewish vote so high for dems during major elections—when so many liberals BLAME Israel for the problems in the middle east!!! What’s up with that?!?!
I just don’t get it sometimes.
(Just a warning, you’ll probably be called a bigot again because you didn’t capitalize ‘Catholic’!)
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