Pope and President Meet

The headline seems to be that the Pope stressed life issues in his meeting with the President, and was firm on abortion and stem cell research. While I'm sure the Pope did just that, I doubt that constitutes an accurate assessment of the overall purpose of this papal and presidential get together. Do you think that extraordinary efforts were made to insure that these two men met at this time in order for the Pope to reiterate his stance on abortion? Couldn't he have just mailed his statement in? Does anyone not know what the Pope believes about abortion?

Benedict XVI is walking a fine diplomatic line in his dealings with the new President. There is every indication that he has warm feelings toward the vision and direction of the President's policies. As has already been noted by many, his new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate is significantly to the left of the new President. Yet the new thrust of the growing number of conservative bishops in the United States is to target this presidency on abortion policies and to attack him at every turn. Their efforts to have his invitation to speak at Notre Dame rescinded is indicative of that approach.

Benedict XVI needed to assure his bishops that he was on their side, so the message that was released stressed his comments on abortion. Yet at the same time he has also implied in various ways that he is not totally pleased with the bishops' behavior. According to the National Catholic Reporter, the Apostolic Nuncio, who is the Pope's personal representative in the United States has told the bishops that there are a number of areas where they can work in concert with President Obama, and to tone down the Anti-Obama rhetoric. In Nicholas Cafardi's article it was also noted that the Pope met the President at 4 p.m. which is against papal protocol, and simply is not done in Rome during the month of July. This concession was apparently made to accommodate the president's tight schedule. Finally, a former Papal theologian, Cardinal Georges Cottier, recently praised the President's approach on abortion that seeks to find common ground and implement strategies designed to reduce the number of abortions.

Those who only have interest in one issue will not be able to understand what is going on here. If abortion is the only issue that matters, why have anything to do with someone who does not support your position? The Pope however is juggling a few additional matters that he considers important. Despite the rants of conservative church leaders and lay persons, the Pope still actually cares about the Middle East peace process. He cares about a draw down of troops in Iraq, and new strategies in Afghanistan. He actually cares about problems in Africa as well as the problems of the poor. He is concerned about the global economic crisis. His new encyclical is a dramatic reaffirmation of Catholic Social Teaching going back to Leo XIII. He was anxious to actually confer with the President and receive an update on progress on these issues.

In addition he demonstrated an important Christian quality that all of us tend to forget at times in an effort to promote our own point of view. He demonstrated respect for another individual. In so doing he affirmed the worth and dignity of all human beings. He showed that he was able to see value and dignity even in someone with whom he has disagreements, and even with someone who is not part of his own Roman Catholic Communion.

I believe both Benedict XVI and Barack Obama have given us a lesson that we would all do well to learn. We cannot treat people with genuine respect if we do not believe that they represent something valuable even if their beliefs differ from our own. Refusal to admit the possibility of error makes it difficult to find value in the opinions of others. Humility and acknowledgement of our own limitations might help us all to recognize good will, genuineness, and sincerity, in those around us. We might all learn more if we actually listen to what others are saying.