Though Barack Obama won't be announcing his foreign travel plans any time soon, it's a good bet that the new American President will meet Pope Benedict XVI some time next year, perhaps in early July to coincide with the G8 summit in Italy.It promises to be one of the great photo ops of 2009. Benedict sent a personal message to Obama the day after his victory, which referred to the "historic occasion" of his coming presidency; and Obama subsequently telephoned the Pope as part of a round of calls to world leaders.
But well before the two men have their historic handshake, the ground is already shifting underneath U.S.-Vatican relations. After the Bush administration, the election of a pro-choice, pro-diplomacy Democratic president is changing the Vatican's game plan vis-a-vis Washington on several levels. Bush was viewed in Rome as a rare ally in the West for his opposition to such issues as abortion, gay marriage and stem-cell research. And the first issue to watch is abortion.
The Pope's top aides may have already informed Benedict about a campaign promise Obama made on July 17, 2007, to Planned Parenthood, stating that his first act as President would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would undo legislation that put restrictions on access to abortions. Some Catholics have warned that such a decree, which would essentially codify Roe v. Wade into federal law and could force doctors in Catholic hospitals to perform abortions against their conscience.
"There's more fear here than wrath," a senior Vatican official told TIME with regard to the Catholic hierarchy's attitude toward Obama. However, if Obama signs the Freedom of Choice Act in his first months in office "it would be the equivalent of a war," says the same official.
"It would be like saying: 'We've heard the Catholic Church and we have no interest in their concerns." U.S. Catholic bishops meeting last week in Baltimore vowed to take on Obama for his support of abortion rights; they are also skeptical about his assurances to try to reduce the number of abortions while supporting the right to choose.
Even before the election, the Democrats were warned not to risk becoming the "party of death," according to former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke. It was Burke who famously pledged in 2004 to deny communion to the pro-choice Catholic presidential candidate John Kerry. The archbishop has since been promoted to Rome as the head of the Holy See's equivalent of a Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, in response to a question last week on Obama's pledge to reverse Washington's policy on stem cell research, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who heads the Vatican office for health, made it clear the Church will not shy away from the debate. "What builds up man is good, what destroys him is bad," he told reporters, arguing that one human being should never become a material resource for the betterment of another.
Nevertheless, 54% of U.S. Catholic voters went for Obama, who is Protestant. That may give the new President the cover to move ahead with his pledges. An added twist to the Obama administration will be its pro-choice Catholic Vice-President. Bishop Joseph Martino of Scranton, Pennsylvania, hometown of Vice President-elect Joe Biden told his fellow bishops last week: "I cannot have a vice president-elect coming to Scranton to say he's learned his values there when those values are utterly against the teachings of the Catholic Church."
Another pro-choice Catholic, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, may be on the short list for potential Secretary of Health and Human Services in an Obama administration. Though there are plenty of pro-choice Catholic politicians in Western Europe, these issues tend to get played out more openly in the United States, both because of its superpower status and a more vocal traditionalist wing of the American Church.
Beyond bioethics, Vatican officials generally view the incoming American administration's economic and foreign policy as a marked improvement over the past eight years, which included vocal criticism from Rome over the war in Iraq and a skepticism toward unfettered capitalism preached by Republicans.
The possibility of an open clash over abortion could squander the potential for the Vatican to work side-by-side with Washington on issues such as Middle East peace, human rights and environmental protection.
It might also tighten the smiles when it's time for that first photo op.
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(Source: Time)