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11-06-07, 17:00
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/09/AR2007060900200.html
Pope Tells Bush of His Concern About Safety of Iraq's Christians
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 10, 2007; Page A19
VATICAN CITY, June 9 -- President Bush met Saturday for the first time with Pope Benedict XVI, who the Vatican said expressed concern about "the worrying situation in Iraq," especially the deteriorating plight of Christians there.
Speaking later to reporters, Bush said the pontiff was worried that Christians in Iraq were being "mistreated by the Muslim majority."
At the Vatican, President Bush presents Pope Benedict XVI with a "Moses stick," carved with the Ten Commandments by a former homeless man from Dallas. It was among several gifts the two men exchanged in their first meeting. (L'osservatore Romano Via Associated Press)
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The Vatican has been critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, but both sides said they did not dwell on those differences Saturday.
"We didn't talk about just war," the president said at a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
In an interview last week with the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire, the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, called the United States a great country but pointed to some "problems," notably the Iraq war, which the late John Paul II and then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the current pope, opposed.
In his Easter message this year, Benedict lamented that "nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees." Bertone, who also met with Bush, expressed special concern about Iraqi Catholics, whose population in the country has dwindled since the invasion.
Bush said he briefed the pontiff on U.S. efforts to step up humanitarian aid to impoverished countries, pointing to his call for Congress to double to $30 billion the amount the United States is spending on global AIDS relief. Bush also told the pontiff about a commitment by the world's wealthiest industrialized nations during their recent summit in Germany to substantially increase efforts to eradicate deadly diseases in poor countries.
Bush called his meeting with the pontiff "a moving experience."
"I was talking to a very smart, loving man," he said.
During their meeting, the pope presented the president with a gold medallion and a centuries-old lithograph of St. Peter's Square. The president gave the pope a rare collector's edition of the autobiography of John Carroll, the first archbishop in the United States. The president also gave the pope six lithographs from the National Archives and a "Moses stick" that was hand-carved by a former homeless man from Dallas. The stick, identical to one Bush owns, is engraved with the Ten Commandments.
Just before Bush arrived in Rome on Friday, a court in the northern Italian city of Milan opened the trial of 26 Americans who Italian prosecutors say are CIA operatives who kidnapped an Egyptian cleric in 2003 in Milan and sent him to Egypt. None of the Americans has come to Italy for the trial, which has become a point of friction between the United States and Italy.
While Bush and the pope met, thousands of people protested the president's visit. But other residents lined his motorcade route, smiling and snapping pictures as the convoy snaked through the narrow downtown streets.
Bush arrived in Rome on Friday night, after leaving the summit of the Group of Eight nations in Germany and stopping briefly in Poland. Earlier, he stopped for two days in the Czech Republic. The president will visit Albania and Bulgaria on Sunday before returning to Washington on Monday.
Pope Tells Bush of His Concern About Safety of Iraq's Christians
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, June 10, 2007; Page A19
VATICAN CITY, June 9 -- President Bush met Saturday for the first time with Pope Benedict XVI, who the Vatican said expressed concern about "the worrying situation in Iraq," especially the deteriorating plight of Christians there.
Speaking later to reporters, Bush said the pontiff was worried that Christians in Iraq were being "mistreated by the Muslim majority."
At the Vatican, President Bush presents Pope Benedict XVI with a "Moses stick," carved with the Ten Commandments by a former homeless man from Dallas. It was among several gifts the two men exchanged in their first meeting. (L'osservatore Romano Via Associated Press)
Who's Blogging?
Read what bloggers are saying about this article.
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Caterwauled
The Angry Arab News Service/???????????????????? ???????????????????? ???????????????????????? ????????????????????????
Full List of Blogs (16 links) »
Most Blogged About Articles
On washingtonpost.com | On the web
Save & Share Article What's This?
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The Vatican has been critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, but both sides said they did not dwell on those differences Saturday.
"We didn't talk about just war," the president said at a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
In an interview last week with the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire, the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, called the United States a great country but pointed to some "problems," notably the Iraq war, which the late John Paul II and then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the current pope, opposed.
In his Easter message this year, Benedict lamented that "nothing positive comes from Iraq, torn apart by continual slaughter as the civil population flees." Bertone, who also met with Bush, expressed special concern about Iraqi Catholics, whose population in the country has dwindled since the invasion.
Bush said he briefed the pontiff on U.S. efforts to step up humanitarian aid to impoverished countries, pointing to his call for Congress to double to $30 billion the amount the United States is spending on global AIDS relief. Bush also told the pontiff about a commitment by the world's wealthiest industrialized nations during their recent summit in Germany to substantially increase efforts to eradicate deadly diseases in poor countries.
Bush called his meeting with the pontiff "a moving experience."
"I was talking to a very smart, loving man," he said.
During their meeting, the pope presented the president with a gold medallion and a centuries-old lithograph of St. Peter's Square. The president gave the pope a rare collector's edition of the autobiography of John Carroll, the first archbishop in the United States. The president also gave the pope six lithographs from the National Archives and a "Moses stick" that was hand-carved by a former homeless man from Dallas. The stick, identical to one Bush owns, is engraved with the Ten Commandments.
Just before Bush arrived in Rome on Friday, a court in the northern Italian city of Milan opened the trial of 26 Americans who Italian prosecutors say are CIA operatives who kidnapped an Egyptian cleric in 2003 in Milan and sent him to Egypt. None of the Americans has come to Italy for the trial, which has become a point of friction between the United States and Italy.
While Bush and the pope met, thousands of people protested the president's visit. But other residents lined his motorcade route, smiling and snapping pictures as the convoy snaked through the narrow downtown streets.
Bush arrived in Rome on Friday night, after leaving the summit of the Group of Eight nations in Germany and stopping briefly in Poland. Earlier, he stopped for two days in the Czech Republic. The president will visit Albania and Bulgaria on Sunday before returning to Washington on Monday.