The Vatican Secretary of State’s comments reflect the major themes in the relationship between the Bush administration and the Holy See during Bush’s six and a half years at the White House and with two different pontiffs. **Speaking in general terms, there has been agreement and collaboration to an unprecedented level for a U.S. president and the Pope of Rome, **but only on particular issues. On the other hand, the relationship has been marked by persistent tension because of the decision to go to war in Iraq, which the Vatican took many steps to prevent through diplomatic initiatives, as well as on the role and supremacy of international law. On the fight against terrorism in general, both John Paul II and Benedict XVI often lent their support in speeches condemning this “modern scourge,” as John Paul described it, but in large terms.
…
In addition to life and family issues, there were grounds for agreement on some of Bush’s immigration initiatives, praised by the U.S. bishops’ council, and on the collaboration between Church and state in charitable activities, which President Bush termed the Faith-Based Initiative. On Saturday, Bush highlighted his accomplishments regarding humanitarian aid through faith based organizations and programs (such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR) in both his meeting with Benedict and in his meeting with the Community of Sant’Egidio, who run a successful AIDS treatment program in Africa.
…
It is an irony not likely to be lost on Bush, who, as an ecumenically-minded “born again” Christian, sought out and surrounded himself with Catholic strategists like Deal Hudson, Catholic thinkers like Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, and Catholic staff like Jim Towey (former director of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives). **Bush also expressed a level of affection for the Holy Father and the Catholic Church uncommon for a U.S. president in a country with a historic bias against “papists.” **At his last meeting with John Paul II in 2004, Bush presented the pontiff with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor awarded to a civilian, for his role in the defeat of communism and the spread of freedom internationally.
Since the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the United States in 1984 under the pontificate of John Paul II and the administration of President Ronald Reagan – as much a symbol of the final acceptance of Catholics in U.S. politics as it was a symbol of a Cold War alliance – no U.S. president passes through Rome without a visit to the Vatican. President Bush, however, seems to have gone out of his way to pay his respects to the previous Holy Father, with three visits to John Paul II and a personal appearance – along with his wife and several staff members – at the papal funeral, where he first met then-Cardinal Ratzinger.