President Bush is to meet the Holy Father
again in a few weeks, according to the White House. The President will be dropping in at the Vatican while on a European tour June 9-16.
It will essentially be a courtesy call, and will come just a couple of months after the President played
host to Benedict XVI at the White House. It’s not clear exactly when Mr. Bush
will come here, but sources say the meeting is likely to take place on June 13
– almost exactly a year since the President last visited the Pope.
It will be the third time the two men have
met officially, and Mr. Bush’s fifth visit to the Vatican.
That’s naturally led to speculation that the President, a Methodist, is considering
becoming a Catholic, although there is no hard evidence to suggest that that’s true.
What’s more probable is that the main
purpose of his trip to Italy is to greet his old friend Silvio Berlusconi, who
was elected back into power in April, and it would have appeared rude not to
call in on the Pope while he was here. Though it does underline how close this
administration is to the Vatican on many issues
The President's visit to Europe will also commemorate
the 60th anniversary of the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift. He’ll also be
visiting Northern Ireland on the tour.
That’s somewhere many people are hoping the Pope will also visit soon, though very unlikely
in ‘08. John Paul II tried to do so in 1979, but couldn’t because of security
concerns.
It would have been fascinating to have seen
how the once virulent anti-Catholic Ian Paisley, the current First Minister of
Northern Ireland, would have greeted the Pope, as he would be constitutionally
obliged to do, but unfortunately the Protestant firebrand has announced he’s stepping
down soon, so alas that won’t happen.
-- Edward Pentin
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