On March 27, President Obama met with Pope Francis for the first time. The president has been to the Vatican before, but not since Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation. The private contents of the meeting, which went longer than was expected, were not released to the public. Nor were the ones with the president’s subsequent meeting with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Dominique Mamberti. Yet the Vatican communique published afterward did give some clues as to what these world leaders discussed:
During the cordial meetings, views were exchanged on some current international themes and it was hoped that, in areas of conflict, there would be respect for humanitarian and international law and a negotiated solution between the parties involved.
In the context of bilateral relations and cooperation between Church and State, there was a discussion on questions of particular relevance for the Church in that country, such as the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection, as well as the issue of immigration reform. Finally, the common commitment to the eradication of trafficking of human persons in the world was stated.
In a highly publicized event, a young Mexican-American girl, Jersey Vargas, hopped over a crowd barrier at the pope’s insistence and asked him to speak to the president about her father’s impending deportation and the fear of her family being separated. He reportedly did so and, while the family lawyer commented that it had nothing whatsoever to do with the meeting, her father Mario was in fact released from prison hours later, where he had been detained because of a vehicle code violation.
The pope provided President Obama with numerous gifts, including a bound copy of his text Gaudium Evangelii. The president also “urged” the pope to visit America, and after giving the pope a seed chest (the wood of which was taken from the Basilica in Baltimore, the country’s oldest cathedral) to be used for vegetables and flowers in Castel Gandolfo, publically commented, “If you have a chance to come to the White House, we can show you our garden as well.” The pope’s response “Cόmo no?” which can loosely be translated as “For sure” or “Why not?” is perhaps not an official acceptance of such an invitation.
However, many Americans hope (and expect) the pope, who has at no point in his entire life set foot on U.S. soil, to come to America in 2015. The archbishop and mayor of Philadelphia are very publicly courting him to attend the World Meeting of Families and Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), both of whom are practicing Catholics, have coordinated an invitation for the pope to speak to a joint session of the Congress, which would be a first in the nation’s history, and a remarkable occurrence if it were to materialize. Our country, with a history quite different from that of Europe, was notoriously hesitant to elect a Catholic to the highest office in the land as recently as 50 years ago. Francis’ speaking to the Congress would likely be a watershed moment in a nation still wrestling with church-state relations, reminiscent of Pope Paul VI’s visit to the Holy Land in 1964 or the historic speeches various popes have made before the United Nations. I am participating in upcoming conferences in Rome on “Rethinking Political Catholicism” and Oxford on “Faith, Immigration, and Action” where these very issues and the pope’s role in them are sure to be discussed and debated.
Michael M. Canaris, Ph.D., of Collingswood, is a Research Associate at Durham University’s Centre for Catholic Studies in Northeast England.
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