Bush Asks Pope's Help Using Gay Marriage As Wedge Issue In Campaign

[Cannikin]

(Vatican City) New details are emerging on this month's meeting between the Pope and President Bush.

... one of the most experienced journalists at the Vatican reports this week that Bush implored the Pope to increase Catholic condemnation of gay marriage in the weeks leading up to the election, and that the request also was made by the president to senior Vatican officials..

John Allen Jr., writes in the National Catholic Reporter, an independent journal for Catholics, that Bush specifically "asked the Vatican to push the American Catholic bishops to be more aggressive politically on family and life issues, especially a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman."

Allen, the most senior reporter at the Vatican, and considered the dean of the press corps, says that in a private meeting "with Cardinal Angelo Sodano and other Vatican officials, Bush said, 'Not all the American bishops are with me' on the cultural issues. The implication was that he hoped the Vatican would nudge them toward more explicit activism."

full story:
http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/06/061304bushPope.htm

[noahmijo]

1. FUCK YOU BUSH

How dare that scumbag whose inner circle consists of catholic haters try to drum up any kind pressure on the Pope...:mad:

[Cannikin]

22. kick

[arcos]

2. and the Vatican probably will comply...

after all, stopping gay marriage is more important than the war in Iraq and the death penalty... and oh! the Pope has forgiven Bush for the war anyway.

And then some people here complain about Vatican bashing......... :puke:

[Vickers]

3. The Catholic Church ain't the moral authority it thinks it is

Not any more. Don't those folks read newspapers?

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

4. Bush pumpin' up the God Squad....

So, I guess the GOP is turning itself into a European-style confessional party.

Christian Republican Party. CRP. Sounds good.

[LostInAnomie]

5. Bush disgusts me in every possible way.

He railed against Kerry for saying the foreign leaders want him to win by saying that he "won't let foreign leaders make decisions for America". But, he goes to the Vatican to get the Pope to help him campaign. Talk about flip-flopping.

The more I think about it, the more I think churches should be taxed. They seek to overtly influence elections. By throwing their hat in the ring I think they should be open to the same treatment as other political organizations.

[salib]

6. Hold it

I have not seen anything that would indicate that the Vatican really cares about gay marriage enough to make it an issue. Other than Priest's abusing parishioners, the main issues that are blatantly political seem to be anti-abortion and anti-death penalty. I know that Reagan managed to ride on the anti-abortion rhetoric of the Vatican, but that was opportunism, not engineered. Bush has no such disingenuous cleverness.

[Cannikin]

7. Here ya go...

Pope decries "self-centered demands" of same-sex couples
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=113x9915

Gay Catholics Refused Communion At Chicago Cathedral
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=113x9727

Colorado Bishops Disagree Over Gay Vote Communion Ban
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=113x9621

[salib]

13. Thank you. I am obviously poorly informed about this

nuf said

[UGABrother]

8. He may not be that clever,

but it's not like Bush is the one deciding his administration's policies.

Luckily, I don't think gay-bashing will be a viable political strategy much longer. All the polls show that people under 30 are much more enlightened on this issue than the older generation, and the consitutional amendment idea hasn't picked up any steam.

[Rockholm]

20. Come to Boston, Holland

Witness first hand the Vatican's outreach to priests & bishops to encourage their flocks to outlaw equal marriage. When the catholic church orgainzes 3,000 followers to march on the Boston Common to protest prior to the Constitutional Convention in February, that is the "church" injecting themselves into MY life. Oh, by the way, one of the bishops (from Springfield, MA) who was one of the most outspoken againt equal marriage, resigned his bishopship a few days later when it was revealed that he was a pedophile. IRONIC, huh?

[Southsideirish]

9. Astonishing -how he tried to use the power of the Pope for his own

selfish ends. No wonder they think he is the anti-Christ. I really feel the Pope is clinging on to his place in history in order to try to stop Bush.

[Cannikin]

17. kick

[Philosophy]

10. Hey, at least he's trying to heal the rift with Europe

by showing that we can still be hateful and intolerant together.

[donhakman]

11. .

[Don_G]

12. He's Just Desperate

And trying anything to get votes this November.

[Endangered Specie]

14. Wait a minute...

I didnt think Bush and Co were exactly pro-Catholic?

[Cannikin]

15. kick

[AgadorSparticus]

16. omg! how freaking pathetic is *?? is his campaign that far in the toilet

that he feels the need to go ask the vatican for anything so soon after that failure of a trip and meeting? doesn't he think that he could POSSIBLY offend people while he was there? i saw some pics of him and was offended. and i'm not even catholic.

and does he think that the vatican is just that stupid to let him USE them so cheaply?

he's either really stupid or really desperate. unless they made some deal under the table, i can't imagine the vatican wanting to deal with much less assist this bozo unless they had something in it that we don't know about.

[Piperay]

18. chimp is really in trouble if

he has to ask the Pope to help him. I guess chimp is relying on some of those pervert priests to talk about how bad gay marriage and abortion is. :puke:

[Hekate]

19. I assume the Vatican is aware of the anti-Catholic bias ...

...of Bush's wingnut religious base. Bob Jones University files books about Catholicism under "Cults," after all.

The Vatican is not run by stupid people, just people with whom I disagree on certain issues. The US bishops publicly rebuked Bush in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, and the Pope scolded him for the same thing in their face to face meeting recently.

Catholics in the US traditionally voted Democrat because of the broad range of social justice issues promoted by the Church that overlap with Democratic party policies. The far-right-wingers are currently trying to divide that vote over issues like abortion, but the fact remains that the Catholic Church's long-held beliefs and policies are largely at odds with what the Republican party has become.

I would be incredulous if there was *any* sort of endorsement for Bush coming from them. I'm already incredulous that Bush had the gall to ask for one.

Hekate

[Bridget Burke]

21. A few words from "Bob Jones" himself...

In this historic essay: "Roman Catholics in the Congress, the Senate, and the Administration Discriminate Against the Liberty of Protestants". Full of fascinating stuff--did you know that Margaret Thatcher was conspiring with the Fenians?

www.bju.edu/resources/faith/1982/issue3/congress.html

(Lots of amusing stuff at the website for good old B J U!)

Bush's speech at Bob Jones during his presidential campaign apparently helped him pull ahead of McCain. Quite a few of his more religious followers hate & fear the Catholic church. The antics of a few grandstanding bishops don't represent the views of most American Catholics.

I doubt the Pope was impressed.

[Cannikin]

kick

[Cannikin]

23. kick

[Cannikin]

24. kick

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

25. "Child Molestors For Bush" ?

Oh, yeah, the Roman Catholic hierarchy has so much moral authority these days!