10 July 2009: After their closed-door meeting, Obama introduced the pope to his wife, Michelle, their daughters, Malia and Sasha, and Michelle Obama's mother, Marian Robinson. There was private exchange of gifts and moment for photographs. The pope gave each of the girls a silver key chain with a bas-relief image of the pope, and Michelle Obama and Robinson each received a papal medal....
In addition to the encyclical and Vatican bioethics document, Pope Benedict gave Obama a mosaic showing St. Peter's Basilica and Square and a medal marking the fifth year of his pontificate. --AmericanCatholic.org
DailyLife.com, gallery
Is Obama More Catholic Than the Pope? | Townsend | 9 July 2009
Politics requires the ability to listen to different points of view, to step into others' shoes. Obama might call it empathy. While the pope preaches love, listening to the other has been a particular stumbling block for the Catholic hierarchy (as it is for many in power). The hierarchy ignores women's equality and gays' cry for justice because to heed them would require that it admit error and acknowledge that the self-satisfied edifice constructed around sex and gender has been grievously wrong. Before he became John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla had a telling all-or-nothing formulation: "If it should be decided that contraception is not an evil in itself then we should have to concede frankly that the Holy Spirit is on the side of the Protestant Churches."
Is Obama More Catholic Than the Pope? | Reuters | 10 July 2009
In a surprise move, the pontiff gave Obama a booklet explaining Vatican opposition to practices such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research, which Obama supports. "Obama told the pope of his commitment to reduce the number of abortions and of his attention and respect for the positions of the Catholic Church," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters after he was briefed by the pope. Obama supports abortion rights and says his policy is to change economic and social conditions so as to put more women in situations where they do not feel they have to have an abortion.... The pope also gave the president a copy of his latest encyclical, "Charity in Truth," which called for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat. Obama, who was going to the airport from the Vatican, joked to the pope when he gave him the two documents: "I'll have something to read on the plane." [emphasis added]
Obama supports abortion rights and says his policy is to change economic and social conditions so as to put more women in situations where they do not feel they have to have an abortion....
The pope also gave the president a copy of his latest encyclical, "Charity in Truth," which called for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat. Obama, who was going to the airport from the Vatican, joked to the pope when he gave him the two documents: "I'll have something to read on the plane." [emphasis added]
punk Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
I wonder if Benny will bring back the covered female head for Mass, another wonderful tradition Vatican II did away with? Then we can all have an argument about the Catholic burqa.
It should be noted that French First Lady, (Italian born) Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, didn't don any such Catholic burqa when meeting Benedict in Paris earlier this year. Granted, it was not in the Vatican (Sarkozy visited the Vatican in December 2007 without Carla; they were not married yet).
Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
caption contest worth.
i'm getting: 'nice piece of ass, eh benny?' ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
Carla Bruni, the wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, has been criticised by the Italian press for snobbery verging on 'boorishness' for snubbing the summit's official programme. "Someone tell the first lady that snobbery to the nth degree where we come from is called boorishness," the paper Il Giornale said as the G8 was wrapping up in L'Aquila, central Italy.On Thursday, the other G8 first ladies including Michelle Obama toured the city devastated by an April 6 earthquake, while Miss Bruni planned to visit the disaster zone on Friday.Miss Bruni, who arrived in Italy late Thursday, also stayed away from the wives' audience with Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday.
"Someone tell the first lady that snobbery to the nth degree where we come from is called boorishness," the paper Il Giornale said as the G8 was wrapping up in L'Aquila, central Italy.
On Thursday, the other G8 first ladies including Michelle Obama toured the city devastated by an April 6 earthquake, while Miss Bruni planned to visit the disaster zone on Friday.
Miss Bruni, who arrived in Italy late Thursday, also stayed away from the wives' audience with Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday.
ROME (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday said "sorry" for an editorial attack on France's first lady Carla Bruni for staying away from events organised for the Group of Eight summit. Il Giornale newspaper, which is owned by Berlusconi's brother, had accused the Italian wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy of "boorishness" for snubbing the official programme for G8 spouses. "I was very upset and deeply sorry when I was told about the articles published in the Italian dailies, including Il Giornale, containing offensive remarks about Mme Carla Bruni, wife of the president of the French republic," Berlusconi said in a statement. He said the comments were "out of place" and expressed his "esteem and friendship" for Bruni and Sarkozy. Bruni came in for withering criticism from the right-wing daily on Friday.
ROME (AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday said "sorry" for an editorial attack on France's first lady Carla Bruni for staying away from events organised for the Group of Eight summit.
Il Giornale newspaper, which is owned by Berlusconi's brother, had accused the Italian wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy of "boorishness" for snubbing the official programme for G8 spouses.
"I was very upset and deeply sorry when I was told about the articles published in the Italian dailies, including Il Giornale, containing offensive remarks about Mme Carla Bruni, wife of the president of the French republic," Berlusconi said in a statement.
He said the comments were "out of place" and expressed his "esteem and friendship" for Bruni and Sarkozy.
Bruni came in for withering criticism from the right-wing daily on Friday.
