Pope meets Cheney, emphasizes international cooperation for peace

Published: 2004-01-27

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope John Paul II met with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney at the Vatican and emphasized the need for international cooperation in resolving conflicts around the world. "I encourage you and your fellow citizens to work, at home and abroad, for the growth of international cooperation and solidarity in the service of that peace which is the deepest aspiration of all men and women," the pope said Jan. 27. The pope, looking alert and speaking clearly, read a brief speech following 15 minutes of private talks with Cheney in the papal library. The vice president later met with other top Vatican officials for discussions that touched upon Iraq, the Middle East and a wider range of moral and public policy issues, according to a Vatican statement. It was the pope's first meeting with Cheney and his highest-level audience with a U.S. official following the Iraqi war, which the pope and his aides strongly opposed. The vice president, a former secretary of defense, was one of the chief planners of the war.

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