Pope-Cheney meeting comes as U.S.-Vatican rebuild relationship

Published: 2004-01-26

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Vice President Dick Cheney's first meeting with Pope John Paul II comes at a time when U.S.-Vatican relations are in a rebuilding phase following the war in Iraq. Cheney was scheduled to meet with the pope in a private audience Jan. 27, and later to hold talks with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Sources said the discussions would touch upon a number of topics, chief among them the situation in Iraq, the Middle East and international terrorism. The pope and other Vatican officials argued strongly against the U.S. decision to invade Iraq, but in recent months they have focused on the need for cooperative reconstruction rather than on past differences.

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