I’ll quote this article without any editorial comment. It doesn’t need any.
The White House is playing down a report that President Bush appealed to Vatican officials to encourage U.S. bishops to take a more active role in promoting their shared social agenda.
A report in the independent weekly National Catholic Reporter said Bush sought the bishops’ help in pushing a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages.
Bush reportedly made the request during a meeting with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state to the Vatican, on June 4. White House spokesman Scott McClellan confirmed the session took place but refused to elaborate on it.
The president’s trip to Rome came as his presumptive Democratic rival — Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the first Roman Catholic nominee from a major party since John F. Kennedy in 1960 — has faced questions on his differences with Rome, most notably over abortion.
In a report posted on its Web site last week, the National Catholic Reporter quoted Bush as telling Sodano and other Vatican officials “not all American bishops are with me” on certain social issues and asking for the Vatican’s help in encouraging them to be more outspoken. Sodano did not respond, the report said.
The White House denied any political motives behind the trip to the Vatican. Briefing reporters accompanying the president, a senior administration official said, “the Holy Father is not a political figure. And the president would never seek to make him into one.”
— Religion News Service
