Can Obama Find Common Ground With the Pope?

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Holly Bailey

For the past five days, President Obama has navigated some of the more trickier diplomatic moments of his young presidency—first in Moscow, where he talked to the Russians about nuclear weapons and Iran, and then at the G-8 summit, where talks were dominated by efforts to curb climate change. But as he enters the final stretch of his fourth presidential trip abroad, Obama faces his most emotional and perhaps most contentious meeting yet. On Friday, he’ll head to the Vatican to meet for the first time with Pope Benedict XVI, a leader with whom Obama shares strong philosophical differences.

Among other things, Obama and the pope are at odds on abortion rights, stem cell research and other hot button cultural issues. But White House aides said Obama would go into the meeting looking for areas where they can agree. That includes pushing for Middle East peace and fighting global poverty. Both men have been strong proponents for immigration reform and expanded health care. The White House has cited some signs of hope in its relationship with the Vatican. In an unusual breach of Vatican protocol, Benedict sent Obama a note of congratulations after his "historic" election win last November. The two later spoke for the first time by phone in December. In particular, the pope is said to admire Obama’s outreach to the Islamic world as well as his doctrine this past spring of trying to “reset” U.S. relations not just with Russia but with countries around the world.

Still, White House says Obama will be prepared for some “frank” talk with the pope on touchy issues. Earlier this spring, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi left her visit at the Vatican with the equivalent of a papal rebuke for breaking with the church to support abortion rights. Administration officials don't believe Obama's first meeting will go that far, but they also acknowledge meetings like this can be unpredictable. “In many ways the visit is not unlike visits with other heads of state," Denis McDonough, a deputy National Security Advisor, said this week."There are issues on which they'll agree, issues on which they'll disagree, and issues on which they'll agree to continue to work on going forward.”

Administration officials hope the visit will be more spiritual than political. Obama will visit the Vatican with his family. He’ll sit down with pope and other cardinals. Then, the pope will grant a private audience to Obama, his wife Michelle and two young daughters, Sasha and Malia. Aides said the president, although he is not Catholic, had been impacted by the “social teaching” of the church. “The president often refers to the fundamental belief that each person is endowed with dignity,” McDonough said. “The president often underscores that dignity of people is a driving goal in what we hope to accomplish in development policy, for example, and in foreign policy.” But is it enough to overcome their extreme differences?

Tag(s): Barack Obama

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Member Comments

Posted By: citizenPZ (July 12, 2009 at 1:22 PM)

now that Obama has had his chance to play pope for a week, can we START the business of CLEANING up the STINKY educational system in this country???? Apparently, remaining in character, Obama is still after glory instead of guts.

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Posted By: MJ000777 (July 10, 2009 at 12:29 PM)

I am positive that they both are thankful that they were not aborted by their mothers.