Prophetic Intelligence Briefings
Obama Wonders After... · July 07, 2009
“U.S. President Barack Obama will visit with Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI when he heads back overseas next month,” reported United Press International on June 25, 2009.
The White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs “told reporters the president will discuss ‘a range of issues, including their shared belief in the dignity of all people’ when he meets the pope July 10.”
Obama will be in Italy for the Group of Eight summit in L’Aquila, Italy, and will meet the pope in the afternoon before continuing his journey to Ghana, Africa. Michelle Obama will be there too.
“The afternoon meeting between Obama and the Pope is out of the ordinary,” wrote Catholic News Agency, “since the Pontiff usually meets with heads of state at midday.
“To be sure, the Catholic Church vigorously disagrees with President Obama on abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and same-sex “marriage,” but the announcement shows that Pope Benedict wishes to engage the new U.S. president.”
Benedict and the Catholic Church see much to “engage in” with Barack Obama, such as relations with Islam, Immigration issues, the economy and other global issues.
Dan Gilgoff of U.S. News and World Report suggested that there is likely to be convergence on economic issues. He pointed out in a blog on June 24 that similar to Benedict XVI, Obama’s emphasis concerning the economic crisis has to do with moral lapses. Obama even quoted scripture at a speech at Georgetown University, the oldest Jesuit run University in the United States, in which he said:
“There’s a parable at the end of the Sermon on the Mount that tells the story of two men. The first built his house on a pile of sand, and it was soon destroyed when a storm hit. But the second is known as the wise man, for when ‘the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.’ ‘It was founded upon a rock.’
“We cannot rebuild this economy on the same pile of sand. We must build our house upon a rock. We must lay a new foundation for growth and prosperity: a foundation that will move us from an era of borrow and spend to one where we save and invest; where we consume less at home and send more exports abroad.
“Up until now,” Gilgoff concluded, “the news media’s focus on Obama’s relationship with the Roman Catholic Church has revolved around the abortion issue. But headlines out of the president’s first meeting with the pope may be about economic common ground.”
Obama’s first meeting with the Pope
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