Pope Benedict XVI, meeting April 16 at the White House with President George W. Bush, said it was important to preserve the traditional role of religion in American political and social life.
Religious values helped forge "the soul of the nation" and should continue to inspire Americans as they face complex political and ethical issues today, he said.
The pope spoke on his 81st birthday at a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, where he was warmly welcomed by Bush and thousands of cheering well-wishers. It was the pontiff's first official encounter after arriving in Washington April 15.
The pope smiled and beamed as the crowd sang an impromptu "Happy Birthday." The two leaders stood and listened to their respective national anthems, then a fife and drum corps played a medley of "Yankee Doodle" and other patriotic songs.
Bush greeted the pope with the Latin phrase "Pax tecum" ("Peace be with you"), and said the entire country was moved and honored to have the pope spend "this special day" with them.
The pope, speaking in English, said he had come to the United States "as a friend, a preacher of the Gospel and one with great respect for this vast pluralistic society."
He said that from the beginning the United States' history and its quest for freedom was linked to "a moral order based on the dominion of God the creator." This was seen in the proclamation of "the self-evident truth that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights," he said.
Religious values have continued to be a driving force, for example in the struggle against slavery and the human rights movement, he said.
"In our time, too, particularly in moments of crisis, Americans continue to find their strength in a commitment to this patrimony of shared ideals and aspirations," he said.
The pope then spoke about freedom in the U.S. tradition, saying Americans have always understood freedom as not just a gift but as a summons to responsibility.
Preserving freedom calls for virtue, self-discipline, a sense of sacrifice for the common good and responsibility for the less fortunate, he said.
"It also demands the courage to engage in civic life and to bring one's deepest beliefs and values to reasoned public debate," he said.
Freedom has a deep connection to truth, the pope said. Quoting Pope John Paul II, he said the late pope had "reminded us that history shows, time and again, that 'in a world without truth, freedom loses its foundation,' and a democracy without values can lose its very soul."
The pope said the church is convinced that faith can shed new light and inspire people to work for a more just and fraternal society.
"Democracy can only flourish, as your Founding Fathers realized, when political leaders and those whom they represent are guided by truth and bring the wisdom born of firm moral principle to decisions affecting the life and future of the nation," he said.
The pope did not speak about specific domestic or international issues in his public remarks. But he ended his talk with a call for global solidarity and said commitment to the "patient efforts of international diplomacy to resolve conflicts" was key to building a world where truth, freedom and justice can flourish.
In his speech, Bush picked up on several of the pope's favorite themes, denouncing a "dictatorship of relativism" that threatens traditional values.
The pope did not mention terrorism, but the president referred to it, saying: "In a world where some evoke the name of God to justify acts of terror and murder and hate, we need your message that God is love."
The president drew applause when he said: "In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred and that each of us is willed and each of us is loved and each of us is necessary."
Bush said that during his visit the pope would find a nation of prayer and generous service to others, in which the measure of success is "how we treat the weakest and most vulnerable among us."
The United States, he said, is among the most religious countries on earth.
After the public ceremony, the two leaders walked into the Oval Office for private talks that lasted about 20 minutes.
A day earlier, the papal plane landed under an almost cloudless sky at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland at 3:51 p.m. EDT, nearly 10 minutes ahead of schedule, as Pope Benedict --- welcomed by President Bush and an array of church officials --- began his first pastoral visit to the United States as pope. The pope was to spend the first few days in Washington before traveling to New York April 18.
Among those greeting the pope were Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States; Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington; Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services; Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas of Tucson, USCCB vice president; and Mary Ann Glendon, U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.
Although the two spoke privately for less than 10 minutes in a building on the air base grounds, neither Bush nor the pope delivered any formal remarks at the air base.
It was the first time in his presidency that Bush had gone to Andrews to welcome any head of state. The air base has hosted more than 300 arrivals or departures by heads of state since 2006.
Joining the president in greeting Pope Benedict were first lady Laura Bush and their daughter Jenna.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said at an April 15 briefing before the pope's arrival that Bush would tell the pontiff at the White House that "the hearts of the American people are open to the Holy Father's message of hope."
Perino admitted that the pope and the president disagreed on issues such as the war in Iraq and the death penalty but said that "there is much more agreement between these two leaders than there is disagreement."
"I really don't think that the president is planning to spend a lot of time talking about the issues of Iraq with the pope," she said. "But I do think that the root cause of ... terrorism and extremism is something that they will talk about."
At Andrews, the wind ensemble from Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Md., provided entertainment while a crowd of approximately 1,200 people assembled before the pope's arrival. The group was chosen to perform because they were going to Disney World for a competition later in the week and would miss the April 17 papal Mass at Nationals Park in Washington. ---CNS |