Obama to meet the pope while in Italy for G-8

[tocqueville]

Source: AP

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer – 30 mins ago

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI and President Barack Obama will meet on July 10, a much-anticipated Vatican audience with a president under attack by some American bishops for his support of abortion rights.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Wednesday the Vatican had informed the White House that Benedict is available to meet the president that afternoon. The meeting will be at the end of Obama's stay in Italy for a G-8 summit meeting in the earthquake-stricken city of L'Aquila and just before he leaves for Ghana.

Such meetings in the afternoon are unusual for the tradition-conscious Vatican — most are held at midday. The Vatican clearly sought to accommodate Obama's busy schedule, a sign of Benedict's interest in meeting the American president.

The Vatican has been openly interested in Obama's views, despite his support for abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research, although some American Catholic bishops have been hostile to his administration.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090624/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vati...

[AlphaCentauri]

1. Obama is a Catholic plant in a conspiracy against America

here we go again

[tocqueville]

3. gonna be revealed by the fistbump... nt

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Oh my, that'll upset all those folks who wanted to fire the president of Notre Dame even more!

They'll have to protest the Pope!

[onehandle]

4. Obama is putting the sixth Catholic on The Supreme Court.

The Catholic haters at DU must be still asleep.

Come out, come out wherever you are.

[CTyankee]

5. Ooh, maybe he and Michelle will have a dinner date in Rome!

They could go to a sweet little trattoria in the Trastavere and go to visit the Coliseum at night when it is all lit up. Visit the Borghese Museo before it opens up in the morning, a la the Louvre trip...

[jmowreader]

6. Hopefully it will go better than the last time a US president met the pope

It seems that when Shrub was in office he got an invitation to have an audience with the Pope. He was real nervous about it, so he asked Cheney to go in with him. Cheney didn't have an audience, of course, so he got a bucket of chicken and sat in the back of the Sistine Chapel while Bush was up front with the Pontiff. He just quietly sat there, eating his chicken and throwing the bones on the floor of what he considered to be the heathen church.

The pope entered the chapel and started toward where Bush was...but to Bush's surprise the pope walked right past him, went straight back to Cheney, made the sign of the cross and walked out of the hall.

Bush went back to Cheney. "He blessed you and not me? He didn't even say a word to me, and I was the one he invited!"

Cheney just shook his head. "It's not what you think, George. The pope pointed up in the air and said "What the hell are you doing to the House of the Lord?" He then pointed down and said, "now pick up those chicken bones," at you and said "then get that fucking deserter," and finally at the door and said "and get the fuck out of my church."

[bitchkitty]

7. I'm sure it will go a lot better than Chimpie's meeting!