Obama in the Vatican

Yesterday, Benedict XVI gave President Barack Obama two texts, personally signed by him: the Declaration “Dignitas personae”, the church’s protest against bioethical abuses; and his social encyclical, criticizing globalization sins.

It’s symbolic. The pope diplomatically brought up the dispute of the church with the president of the United States over abortion, experiments on stem cells and in vitro fertilization – commented Vatican watchers.

At the same time, Benedict XVI indicated areas in which he relies on the president. These include the fight against poverty, limiting exploitation in the Third World and the retreat from hard-line neoliberalism, about which he writes in his encyclical, “Caritas in veritate”, published a few days ago.

In the church, there is active dispute about Obama’s opinion. When prestigious Notre Dame University decided to grant Obama a honorary degree, 80 U.S. bishops publicly protested against honoring “a supporter of liberalization of the abortion law”; a conservative U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, from President George W. Bush’s time, announced a boycott of the ceremony, although the university was preparing a honoris causa degree for her, as well.

This sharp line of many Catholic bishops is not supported by the Vatican. “The president’s speech at Notre Dame University was very valuable”, wrote Vatican journal, L’Osservatore Romano – lambasted by conservative U.S. Catholics. The eminent Catholic intellectual, Michael Novak, attacked: “A valuable speech? An honorable guest? Apparently they barely understand the realities of the brutal fight for abortion in the U.S.”

During the 40-minute audience, Benedict XVI was supposed to bring up the topic of bioethics. During the part of the meeting open for journalists, he was saying hardly anything and mostly smiling.