Posted on 07/05/2009 12:30:31 PM PDT by presidio9
When Pope Benedict XVI greets U.S. President Barack Obama at the Vatican on July 10, the symbolism and sheer star power of the encounter will keep the pundits chattering away. The photo op alone is worth a thousand words: The 82-year-old man in white, the world's most recognizable religious leader and head of its largest single denomination comes face-to-face with the charismatic first black President of the world's last superpower. And the scheduling efforts of both the Vatican and the White House suggest a shared appreciation of the symbolic weight the first encounter between Obama and Benedict could carry.
It was confirmed last week that the two would meet during a highly unusual Friday, 4 p.m. slot immediately after Obama finishes the G8 summit in Rome and prepares to depart for Ghana. Pontiffs almost always meet with visiting dignitaries before lunch, but that's not an option for Obama. And the fact that Benedict leaves Rome two days later for his summer holiday in the Italian Alps has some speculating that the pontiff had delayed his departure in order to be there when the new U.S. President comes to town.
Once they've allowed the photographers their opportunity, Benedict and Obama will speak alone and in private for what will likely be less than one hour. To paint the Obama-meets-Benedict dossier in broad strokes, says one senior Vatican diplomat, "It's basically the reverse of Bush." In other words, the Pope tends to appreciate the new President's less aggressive approach to foreign affairs, while clashing on ethical matters such as abortion rights and stem cell research — where President George W. Bush was seen by the Vatican as one of the few like-minded Western leaders on social issues,
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
Again, google “Cardinal Ratzinger + abortion.” You will find that no Catholic offical has had more to say about abortion in the last 50 years. He will also read the riot act to Obama during their audience, but it will be private and Obama won’t care.
What the Pope won’t do is single out the United States or US politicians. That is not the Pope’s role, and there are countless other countries in the world that are more Catholic but have simiar abortion laws. The goal of Catholicism is to reach the individual, so she won’t have abortions, or he won’t perform them, and the both won’t vote for politicians who support them. Pope Benedict has already focused on these topics repeatedly.
B16 won’t need to be armed with anything.
He is, hands down, one of the smartest people on the planet on a bad day.
Barry, by contrast, is an amazingly dull intellect and a snake-oil propogandist. Possibly one of the weakest minds to occupy the Oval Office.
Well, women who have audiences with the Pope are supposed to wear long-sleeved black dresses. I hope the Pirhanna Queen wears her nice "black widow" number...
The Pope is also a head of state (The Vatican) and in that role it is his responsibility to meet with other heads of state. The Vatican has ambassadors in many, many countries, including the United States.
As a head of state and as head of the Church, he must worry about the welfare of the Catholics in many countries, including our own. Refusing to meet with a president would be the equivalent of poking a stick in the eye of someone who is already making every effort to undermine the authority of the Church in the United States.
We don’t live in a world in which actions don’t have far-flung consequences. That is what Pope Benedict knows, and that is why he will meet with Obama.
If I had a dollar for every time an outraged thread followed a New York Times story, I would be a wealthy woman.
The construct is usually to start with a false premise, back it up with quotes from unattributable sources, and sprinkle in a few attributed quotes on a peripheral issue, giving the illusion that the article has factual backing. That is what has been done in this article, and it is a shameful propaganda technique that I had hoped people by now would be able to spot.
Thanks for your pointing it out.
For some (this includes the dying Time Magazine), 0bama and Michael Jackson are heroes.
For others, Benedict XVI and Ronald Reagan are heroes.
Res ipsa loquitor.
I hope Pope Benedict says, as he turns and faces Mr. Obama, “Be quiet! Come out of him!”
The way the MSM frames this meeting by ‘color’ (white vs. black) is just disgusting. I have no doubt that Pope Benedict XVI’s primary objective will be to make very clear to Barack Obama the error of his ways with regard to life in all of its stages (conception to natural death).
I wish for that too, but I am preparing myself not to be disappointed since it is highly likely that the photo op will occur since he is the POTUS. ;-(
I know it's not meant as such, but I'll just take it in reference to the "color" of their respective souls...
Haha. Very good.
I was done here multiple times by a couple of diligent posters who even linked other articles that made the EXCAT same error. The problem here on FR usually is that a lot of Catholics have been filled with misinformation about what the Pope can and can't do. Those false premises lead them to misinterpret what the man says. I think there are honest reporters out there who make the same mistake, and others who seek to intentionally mislead. Plus there are moderators here on FR who encourage delibrate and lying attacks on Catholicism.
Will Bammy grab the FOREARM of the POPE in the POWER HANDSHAKE and just SHOW the POPE who is the more important of the two?? Probably.
“The clear point that the Times is making is that some people in Israel think the Pope is an anti-Semite, and they may be right.”
You’re saying that the Times is saying “they may be right,” not that you are saying they may be right, right?
***Will Bammy grab the FOREARM of the POPE in the POWER HANDSHAKE and just SHOW the POPE who is the more important of the two?? Probably.***
More like a fist bump. I just wanna see the meeting. I think that the conduct of both will tell who is a man of God and who is Jeremiah Wright’s wind up toy.
What in the world is Obama doing in that photo?
Come on B16, don’t give him that photo op.
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