How many appointment slots has the Pope?

Politics International Politics
1

Damn. I didn’t much like the last guy’s policies, and like this guy’s less, but every once in a while the pretense to moral authority pays off, if only in a small way.

[quote=“BBC”]Pope Benedict XVI refused a recent request by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the Middle East and Iraq, Vatican sources say.

The Pope refused a request for an audience during the August holidays.

Senior Vatican sources told the BBC the Pope does not normally receive politicians on his annual holiday at the Castelgandolfo residence near Rome.

But one leading Italian newspaper said it was an evident snub by the Vatican towards the Bush administration.

There are at least two reasons why Pope Benedict may have decided peremptorily against a private meeting with Ms Rice.

First, it was Ms Rice who just before the outbreak of the Iraq war in March 2003 made it clear to a special papal envoy sent from Rome, Cardinal Pio Laghi, that the Bush administration was not interested in the views of the late Pope on the immorality of launching its planned military offensive.

Secondly, the US has responded in a manner considered unacceptable at the Vatican to the protection of the rights of Iraqi Christians under the new Iraqi constitution.

The Bush administration has told the Vatican that as coalition forces have not succeeded in securing the whole territory of Iraq, they are unable to protect non-Muslims.

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 US during August on other business.
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2

So you think that this is really a “snub” and that this somehow elevates Pope Benedict XVI to “okay” status? That is a bit of a stretch. I have a great deal of respect for Benedict. I think that he has taken a very clear stance on the moral relativism that infests the 20th century. Hurrah! But I am also with Bush (if that really was his original stance) and perhaps even with Stalin (for once)… in my view that the papacy’s views on the subject of when and how wars should be fought is not particularly relevant. Perhaps, it could best be summed up by the old adage: how many divisions does the pope have? Clearly, while the papacy can be for “peace” all it wants, the reality is that someone else will be doing the heavy lifting. So, er, thanks for the advice and all that but got a bit of work to do… Reminds one of the UN and the “sanctity” of its “moral imprimatur.” The smirk here is only for the UN and not the papacy by the way.

3

What does she want from the pope, anyway? Good advice? Some sort of fatwa? (Heh heh, how many divisions does he have?)