Vatican ensures Bush's meeting with pope in no way a campaign stop

Published: 2004-06-04

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Meetings between popes and U.S. presidents have sometimes occasioned lighthearted banter, flag waving and even a few cheers in the halls of the Vatican. The June 4 encounter between Pope John Paul II and U.S. President George W. Bush was a more somber affair. The health of the pope and the international problems of the president combined to keep the tone serious and enthusiasm in check. The fact that this was an election-year visit may also help explain why the Vatican, while granting Bush a full-regalia welcome, did not bring in the American troops -- the U.S. cardinals and monsignors at the Vatican, U.S. seminarians studying in Rome, men and women religious and other Americans working in and around the Holy See. That helped ensure that this encounter in no way resembled a campaign stop. The Vatican's Clementine Hall was about one-third empty when Bush and the pope delivered their speeches, and most of those in attendance were either journalists or U.S. government employees who had come with the president.

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