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Jun 5, 2002
Pope assures Bush U.S. Catholics can overcome clergy abuse crisis
Bush visits pope after historic summit joining NATO and Russia as partners
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope John Paul II assured U.S. President George W. Bush that American Catholics have the spiritual resources to overcome the clergy sex abuse crisis.
After Bush expressed concern about the stature of the Catholic Church in the wake of sex abuse scandals in the United States during a May 28 meeting with the pontiff, the pope, "despite the difficulties of the moment, wanted to express his trust in the spiritual resources of American Catholics committed to giving witness to Gospel values in society," said Joaquin Navarro-Valls, papal spokesman.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters Bush mentioned the scandal in the context of how it is damaging the influence of the Catholic Church in U.S. society.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting, Bush had said he would tell the pope: "I am concerned about the Catholic Church in America, I'm concerned about its standing. I say that because the Catholic Church is an incredibly important institution in our country.
"I'm also going to mention the fact that I appreciate the pope's leadership," the president said.
A Bush aide told reporters Bush would not raise the issue to criticize the pope, but to praise him for convoking the U.S. cardinals at the Vatican in April to discuss the crisis and ways to end it.
The president arrived at the Vatican directly from a historic summit that joined NATO and Russia as partners.
The Vatican spokesman said Bush briefed the pope on the new partnership.
The pope smiled as he greeted the president in his private library and motioned to Bush to have a seat opposite him at his desk. Reporters were led out for the duration of the 20-minute meeting without translators or aides.
Although the pope and president had met less than a year ago, their agenda of common concerns had changed dramatically.
Flaring tensions in the Middle East, the U.S. war on terrorism and the new NATO partnership with Russia were discussed during the meeting.
While the pope and Bush were meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and members of his staff met with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, Vatican foreign minister.
Navarro-Valls said the discussions lingered on the tensions in the Middle East.
"In addition to the political aspects, the humanitarian dimension of the dramatic situation being lived by the Israeli and Palestinian peoples was taken into consideration," the spokesman said. "In addition, the difficult situation of Christians in the Middle East was accented."
As Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel and Israeli military action in Palestinian towns continued, efforts to bring Israel and Palestine back to the negotiating table were high on the common Vatican-U.S. agenda.
Top Vatican officials have supported a proposal that the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia sponsor an international conference with Israeli and Palestinian representatives sometime this summer.
Powell has said the conference would look at security, humanitarian and economic aid, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's proposal to reform the Palestinian government and political solutions for the ongoing conflict.
The Vatican has praised U.S. efforts under Bush to promote religious freedom around the world, especially in China.
Bush reiterated the importance of religious freedom May 26 when he visited a synagogue in St. Petersburg, Russia.
"One of the nonnegotiable demands of individual dignity is freedom of religion, and I'm impressed by what I've heard" about religious tolerance in Russia, Bush said. "It's important for this country that religious freedom flourishes and there be tolerance for all faiths."
But Bush heard another side of the story during his Russia visit from Catholic Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz: an Italian priest and later the Poland-born Bishop Jerzy Mazur of the Diocese of St. Joseph in Irkutsk have had their visas withdrawn and are unable to return to their dioceses.
Russian officials have given no explanation for the withdrawal of the visas, but the action came in the wake of new Vatican-Russian Orthodox tensions after the Vatican transformed its apostolic administrations in Russia into dioceses.
A top official in the Vatican Secretariat of State told Catholic News Service May 28 that he expected Bush to tell the pope about his meeting with the archbishop and what he would do to follow up on the discussion with Russian officials.
The official also said the Vatican was pleased with the agreement signed earlier in the day at the NATO-Russia summit outside Rome.
While Russia does not become the 20th full member of NATO, it does become a partner in a new council designed to discuss NATO policy and common concerns, such as crisis management, peacekeeping, drug trafficking, search-and-rescue operations and joint military exercises.
Bush told the summit the "historic alliance" would promote "a Europe that is whole, free and at peace."
Bush was joined at the Vatican by a delegation that included Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Jim Nicholson, U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.
Contributing to this story was John Thavis at the Vatican.
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