Is George Bush contemplating converting to Catholicism? The rumor pot is boiling in Rome. As Bush strolls through the Vatican gardens with Pope Benedict XVI, Italy’s media speculates about a possible religious crossover for the evangelical U.S. President. What’s certain is that the Pope granted Bush a private audience.
US President George W. Bush was welcomed Friday with unusual honors at St. John’s Tower in the Vatican gardens by Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope devoted a great deal of time to the chief of state, who isn’t Catholic, but belongs to the Free Methodist church.
The Swiss Guard stood at attention as Bush and his wife, Laura, emerged from their black limousine in front of the medieval tower. “What an honor,” Bush exclaimed as he clasped the Pope’s hand. U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, Mary Ann Glendon, a Catholic, kissed the Pope’s ring during the reception. St. John’s Tower is reserved for illustrious guests of the Pope, who normally grants private audiences in the Vatican library. The stroll in the idyllic Vatican gardens after their talk had been previously scheduled.
Conversion rumors a la Tony Blair
Even before Bush’s visit, Italian newspapers had speculated about the President’s possible conversion to Catholicism. Conservative journalist Carlo Rossella assured readers in an article for Il Messaggero that he heard from “reliable sources” that Bush “was considering converting to Catholicism.”
Bush recently disclosed as much to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, himself a new convert to the Roman Catholic church.
The newspaper La Repubblica traced the conversion rumor back to a statement made by White House protocol chief Nancy Goodman Brinker to the news agency Ansa, saying Bush was “a great fan of the Pope and respected him greatly.”
Bush the religion-changer
A conversion to Catholicism would be the second change of belief for the current president. In 1986, Bush left the Anglican church and became an evangelical Free Methodist. Their charismatic message of a personal return to Jesus Christ said more to the then-40 year old Bush than did the former British state religion to which the Bush clan had adhered for generations.
Bush quit drinking, began praying daily and felt himself “born again.” The ambitious politician and entrepreneur built up a close network on which his father could base his campaign for the White House in 1988. Is this latest conversion a new direction in George W. Bush’s religious biography?
Much in common with the Pope
The newspaper La Repubblica wrote that the president has at least one thing in common with the Pope: the fear of “demons” that threaten the world in the 21st century. Rossella also reported that Bush and the Pope would pray together before a portrait of the Virgin Mary.
Relations between Bush and Pope John Paul II, the current Pope’s predecessor, were strained due to the invasion of Iraq. The president has many things in common with the current Pope, such as opposition to homosexual marriage and stem cell research.
But they differ on the subject of capital punishment, which the Pope opposes. Bush’s farewell journey through Europe took him Thursday to a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. After his visit with the Pope, he plans to travel on to France and Great Britain.
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