MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Obama praises Francis and invites him to the US; Vatican points out some differences

The private meeting lasted 52 minutes

President Barack Obama and Pope Francis focused publicly on their mutual respect and shared concern for the poor on Thursday during their meeting in the Vatican, but the lengthy private discussion also highlighted the deep differences between the White House and the Catholic Church on abortion and birth control.

 The gaps were evident in the differing accounts Obama and the Vatican gave of the meeting, with Obama stressing the two leaders’ common ground on fighting inequality and poverty while Vatican officials emphasized the importance to the church of “rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection”.

“Those of us as politicians have the task of trying to come up with policies to address issues,” Obama said following the meeting. “But His Holiness has the capacity to open people’s eyes and make sure they’re seeing that this is an issue.”

The president said the plight of the poor and marginalized was a central topic in their talks, along with Middle East peace, conflicts in Syria and the treatment of Christians around the world. Social issues, he said, were not discussed in detail.

However, the Vatican left out any reference to inequality issues in its description of the meeting. In a written statement, church officials instead said discussions among not only the pope and president but also their top aides centered on questions of particular relevance for the church leaders in the U.S., making veiled references both to abortion and a contraception mandate in Obama’s health care law, which is under review by the Supreme Court.

Obama’s motorcade snaked through the narrow streets of Rome Thursday morning, passing thick crowds near the entrance to the Vatican. Obama and members of his delegation were joined by Vatican officials for a slow processional through the frescoed Clementine Hall, where Swiss Guards stood watch in their brightly colored uniforms designed by Michelangelo.

Obama and Francis, two of the world’s most recognizable men, both appeared nervous as they shook hands before entering the Papal Library.

“I’m a great admirer,” Obama said to the smiling pope. The two men then sat across from each other at a wooden desk for a private meeting that lasted 52 minutes, well beyond the half-hour that had been scheduled.

Obama seem buoyed by the meeting as they emerged, smiling broadly as the pope greeted a handful of Obama’s senior advisers. Among them was Secretary of State John Kerry, who pronounced himself “a great admirer of everything you’ve been doing, as a Catholic, for the church.”

The president then presented the pope a seed chest with fruit and vegetable seeds used in the White House Garden, in honor of the pope’s announcement earlier this year that he’s opening the gardens of the papal summer residence to the public. The chest was custom-made of leather and reclaimed wood from the Baltimore Basilica, one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals in the U.S, and inscribed with the date of Thursday’s meeting.

The pope’s gift to Obama included a copy of his papal mission statement decrying a global economic system that excludes the poor. The president said he would keep it at the White House and read it during frustrating moments in the Oval Office.

Obama also extended an invitation for the pope to visit the United States. Speaking in his native Spanish, the Argentine pope replied, “Why not?”

Although the Vatican has not yet confirmed the trip, it is likely that Francis will travel to the U.S. in September 2015 for the church’s World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. Popes have attended these family celebrations five of the past seven times, and Francis has put family issues at the forefront of his agenda.

Before departing the Vatican, Obama asked the pope to “pray for me and my family,” echoing the pope’s tradition of ending his meetings by asking people to pray for him.