Posted on 07/10/2009 9:56:50 AM PDT by NYer
.- Pope Benedict XVI received President Barack Obama this afternoon in his private library, and after 36 minutes of private conversation, the pair emerged without providing any details about their topics of conversation. Nevertheless, the Holy See revealed that the Pope gave Obama an “unannounced gift”--a Vatican document on bioethics and the right to life.
"The G8 has been very productive, 20 billion dollars have been allocated [to poor countries]; that's something concrete," President Obama told the Pope when he asked about the summit, as photographers and journalists were ushered out of the Papal library.
The meeting between the Pope and the U.S. President started at 4:25 p.m. local time, after an unusually short meeting of ten minutes with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
After the private conversation, and again in front of the cameras, President Obama gave the Pontiff a stole that was drapped upon the body of St. John Neumann from 1988 to 2007. The Pope instead presented the president with a mosaic portraying St. Peter's Square and the Vatican Basilica, and an autographed copy of his latest social encyclical “Caritas in Veritate.”
“I will have something to read on the plane,” President Obama joked after receiving the encyclical.
In addition to his family, Obama’s entourage included Kaye Wilson, General Jim Jones, Denis McDonough, Mona Sutphen, Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod, Julieta Valls (currently responsible for the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See), Alyssa Mastnaco Clay Beers, Melissa Winter, Joseph Clancy and interpreter Elisabeth Ullman. They all received commemorative medals and blessed Rosaries.
At the end of the meeting, the Pope said in English, "I pray for you and bless your work."
"I am very grateful, I hope we will have fruitful relationships," the President responded.
Despite the fact that the Vatican did not release an official statement about the nature of the meeting, the “unannounced” gift to Obama of the 2008 document "Dignitas Personae" on bioethics and the right to life, could be a signal of the nature of at least part of their conversation.
LOL, nailed him!
Ping!
So what. Obama will either re-gift it or throw it away.
The fool standing there with a fatuous grin on his face.
Undignified and lacking gravitas. Ditto the tank.
LOL! You gotta love old Ben.
Did BHO give the Pope a VHS copy of his inauguration speech?
The gifts went immediately in the trash, no question.
Nice slap at Barry, Your Holiness.
Well somebody, at least, has spent a bit more time thinking up better gifts than the Brits got.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI gave President Barack Obama a surprise gift this evening: a copy of the Vatican’s document on bioethics and human dignity, which was published in December.
Illustration of an early stage human embryo (CNS)
The document, “Dignitas Personae” (”The Dignity of a Person”), was issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Strangely enough, about four hours before Obama arrived, I was in the Vatican bookstore. While I was trying to pay, the cashier was interrupted by a phone call and she made me wait while she went to the shelves. She pulled the last two English copies of the document off the shelf and put them on her desk.
Msgr. Georg Ganswein, the pope’s personal secretary, told reporters the document would help Obama understand the church’s reasoning behind its efforts to protect human life at every stage of its development.
She continues with moe updates in a comment from twitter, a few moments later:
- Papal spokesman says pope "extremely satisfied" with how meeting went. 1 minute ago
- Other topics of Obama-pope meeting: Middle East peace, immigration, food security, African development, global economic crisis. 2 minutes ago
- Vatican statement: pope-Obama discussed issues like "the defense and promotion of life and the right to abide by one's conscience." 8 minutes ago
- Still waiting for Vatican statement on pope's meeting with Obama. 39 minutes ago
- Our pope-obama story now updated with more details of meeting, gift exchange: http://bit.ly/nNSci 1 hour ago
- Pope also gave Obama copy of doctrinal cong document on human dignity and life issues, "Dignitas Personae." 1 hour ago
- Visit is over. Obama thanked everyone from pope to Archbishop Harvey to the Vatican ushers. 1 hour ago
- First take: Pope welcomes Obama to Vatican, discusses results of G-8 summit http://bit.ly/nNSci 1 hour ago
- Obama tells pope the Vatican mosaic "is beautiful" and "will have place of honor." 1 hour ago
- President and First Lady posing for photos with pope. Now Obama introducing his entourage. Don't know where the girls are. 1 hour ago
I can’t imagine what Axelrod is going to do with a Rosary.
Related threads:
Encycli-bites for reading “Caritas in veritate”
Pope Benedict's Meeting with Obama a Setback for Conservative Catholics
-7bama sees it as "john" material.
That is what's called liberal philanthropy (hypocrisy)!
Don't bet on any great overtures of correction coming from the Vatican. This will be used by the liberal media to give Obama a more palatable appearance.
perfect!
What a low class a$$.
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