This and That:
A Message to Americans from Our Holy Father
Much of the following material was contributed by Ian Fisher and Katie Zezima of the New York Times.
Fondly,
Father Nicholas
On the occasion of his 81st birthday, Pope Benedict XVI visited the White House on Wednesday and praised America as a nation where strong religious belief can coexist with secular society. In a speech to American bishops later on in the day he warned of the “subtle influence of secularism” that can co-opt religious people and lead even Catholics to accept abortion, divorce and co-habitation outside of marriage.
“Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday and then during the week to promote business practices or medical procedures contrary to those beliefs?” he asked in his address to the bishops. “Is it consistent for practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching or to adopt positions that contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to natural death?”
“Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted,” he said.
From the very beginning of his visit and again in his homily at the Mass at the Nationals Park, the pope acknowledged the “deep shame” caused by the sexual abuse scandal that has divided and weakened the American Church. He agreed that the scandal as it unfolded was “sometimes very badly handled.”
He said the church must “address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores.
“What does it mean to speak of child protection,” the pope asked, “when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?”
He deplored the “crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today,” saying that not only the church, but also families, teachers and the news media and entertainment industries have to take responsibility for “moral renewal.”
His comments to the bishops, on topics like immigration, medical ethics and attrition in the church’s ranks, seemed in contrast to the festive greeting he had received at the White House.
The general tone on a day when he was feted by thousands of flag-waving supporters on the streets of the capital appeared aimed at celebrating and challenging more than scolding.
The White House hosted a crowd of 13,500 on the South Lawn in the morning on the first day of the visit, welcoming the pope with a 21-gun salute; a fife-and-drum band; the soprano Kathleen Battle, who sang the Lord’s Prayer; and two rounds of “Happy Birthday.”
The crowd burst into applause when Mr. Bush told the pope that Americans “need your message that all life is sacred,” a reference to the two men’s shared opposition to abortion rights.
The president also adopted a trademark Benedict phrase when he said the nation needed the pontiff’s “message to reject this dictatorship of relativism.”
The term is considered the defining phrase of the papal election in 2005, in which Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, on the day his fellow cardinals went into the conclave that elected him Pope Benedict XVI, deplored the idea that all belief is equally true.
“Here in America,” Mr. Bush said, “you’ll find a nation that welcomes the role of faith in the public square. When our founders declared our nation’s independence, they rested their case on an appeal to the ‘laws of nature and of nature’s God.’ ”
The pontiff, dressed in his traditional white cassock and skullcap, said, “I come as a friend, a preacher of the Gospel and one with great respect for this vast pluralistic society.”
He said, “Democracy can only flourish, as your founding fathers realized, when political leaders and those whom they represent are guided by truth.”
It is only the second time that the leader of Roman Catholics has visited the White House. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter hosted Pope John Paul II.
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