Religion tells you to forgive but Pope Benedict could be excused for not forgiving US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice for a remark back in 2003.In March 2003, just before the Iraq war, Condolezza Rice met with a special envoy from the Vatican Rome and told them that the Bush administration didn’t care about the views of the late Pope John Paul II on the immorality of its planned military actions in Iraq.
Ties between the Washington and the Vatican were plunged in further disarray after criticism from the Pope that Iraqi Christians under the new Iraqi Constitution is “unacceptable”.
The bad blood between the Pope and Rice were made public after it was revealed in an Italian newspaper that the Pope refused a meeting request from the US Secretary of State to discuss Iraq.
BBC News, which appears to have confirmed the Italian paper's story, says: "Instead of meeting the Pope, Ms Rice had to make do with a telephone conversation with the Vatican's number two, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who was visiting the U.S. during August on other business."
AFP reported that the reply "'illustrated the divergence of view' between the Vatican and the White House about the 'initiatives of the Bush administration in the Middle East.'"
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