Barry and Benedict Meet in the Land of Caesars and Martyrs

ROME -- In the land of Caesars and martyrs, the 44^th President of the United States on Friday met the 264^th successor of St. Peter. Much ado surrounded this historic meeting, particularly among American Catholics, some of whom perceive this encounter as a celebrity death match of epic proportions. The fact is that through the 2,000-year-old Christian presence in the Eternal City, there have been many more troubling meetings. St. Peter met Nero (ended badly) Gregory VII met the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (ended badly) and the list goes on.

So after sacks, murders and kidnappings, what was there to fear?

The tension around this meeting had nothing to do with the military might of the U.S. or its economic prowess dwarfing the little David of the Vatican. American Catholics were terrified of something more insidious to their community--ambiguity.

Since his election, President Obama has played a hard and fast game with Catholic teaching. Placing in high positions several Catholics who publicly flout church teaching, he has rewarded those who compromised belief by catering to constituents, leaving the few who hold fast to the repeated emphasis of John Paul II and Benedict XVI on the sanctity of human life increasingly isolated.

One week before his meeting with the pope, Obama sat down with eight U.S. Catholic journalists and outlined his agenda for the meeting. "He said that it would be a great honor to meet the pope and was looking forward to talking about the Middle East, climate change and immigration," reported the National Catholic Register. After the Notre Dame controversy, when 80 of the 258 bishops openly protested a Catholic university's invitation to a president with the most permissive track record toward abortion in history, thinking that life issues are off the agenda might be a tad ingenuous.

The pope also released a 79-point document called "Charity in Truth," outlining his own talking points regarding modern social issues. While the economic crisis and aid to poverty- stricken areas are very much on his mind, the pope resolutely remains fixed on the question of protection of human life from conception to natural death.

Obama acts like the perfect "cafeteria Catholic." Picking among the many offerings, he invariably selects divisive citations like those of the Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin's "seamless garment" project (that Catholics should adopt a consistently pro-life ethic, and not limit themselves to combating abortion), as he attempts to bury abortion among many other issues, treating the murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent children as morally equivalent to welfare reform and immigration law.

Cardinal Bernardin, who died in 1996, himself rebutted that interpretation in a 1988 interview. "I don't see how you can subscribe to the consistent ethic and then vote for someone who feels that abortion is a 'basic right' of the individual," he said.

On the other hand, Obama never cites Pope John Paul II, who reigned for 25 years of his 48-year existence, or Cardinal Francis George, the archbishop of Chicago for the last 12 years and head of the U.S. bishops' conference, who has tirelessly worked to defend the sanctity of human life.

After all of the president's smoke and mirrors with Catholic causes, papal adherents fear that the meeting focused on Iran and ozone while the big white elephant of abortion stood noiselessly in the corner.

But the president also seemed to suffer from some apprehensions about the meeting. He put off meeting Benedict until the 11^th hour, a delay bordering on rudeness to a fellow head of state. Then, he requested an encounter during afternoon hours when the pope never takes meetings, almost as if to force the pope to refuse Obama. But he didn't. The Vatican showed its ability to "change" by consenting to a 4 p.m. sit-down.

The president did have two reasons to be concerned. One is that he knew he would be meeting a real man of God, not one shopping around for a church. For Benedict, it is all about the immortal soul. Plus, if Obama believes the mainstream press, coming face to face with the man dubbed "God's Rottweiler" must have been a bit daunting.

The meeting lasted 25 minutes, almost doubling the scheduled 15, and took place behind closed doors with no outsiders present. One thing is certain, there was to be no scolding, no barking from the "German shepherd."

Obama's forceful personality undoubtedly made itself felt as he spoke to the pope about the points they have in common and explained his take on the U.S. situation. Benedict, most likely, simply listened. He is not one to scold, he teaches gently and with simple clarity. The issue of abortion was certainly addressed, but without menacing tones. The pope is capable of surprising by not barking, just blessing.

At this point, the question becomes what spin the administration will put on things. One hopes it won't emulate Nancy Pelosi's gaffe of relating an entirely different story than the Vatican press office after her meeting with the pope.

There is little to fear (or expect) from this meeting; it is merely an introductory step to allow each leader to get beyond the endless distortions of the press and size up one another. Benedict met and befriended President Bush in the midst of the Iraq maelstrom, so perhaps we can hope for another small miracle in the encounter with Obama; after all, the Vatican has been known to produce a prodigy or two.