The New York Time carried a story about an report published Friday in the national Catholic Reporter, an independent newspaper\n<\/p>\n
\nOn his recent trip to Rome, President Bush asked a top Vatican official to push American bishops to speak out more about political issues, including same-sex marriage, according to a report in the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newspaper.\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \nIn a column posted Friday evening on the paper’s Web site, John L. Allen Jr., its correspondent in Rome and the dean of Vatican journalists, wrote that Mr. Bush had made the request in a June 4 meeting with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state. Citing an unnamed Vatican official, Mr. Allen wrote: “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.”\n<\/p>\n \nMr. Allen wrote that others in the meeting confirmed that the president had pledged aggressive efforts “on the cultural front, especially the battle against gay marriage, and asked for the Vatican’s help in encouraging the U.S. bishops to be more outspoken.” Cardinal Sodano did not respond, Mr. Allen reported, citing the same unnamed people.\n<\/p>\n The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called the report “mind-boggling.”\n<\/p>\n \n“It is just unprecedented for a president to ask for help from the Vatican to get re-elected, and that is exactly what this is,” Mr. Lynn said. Linda Pieczynski, a spokeswoman for Call to Action, a liberal Catholic group, said, “For a president to try to get the leader of any religious organization to manipulate his fellow clergymen to support a political candidate crosses the line in this country.”\n<\/p>\n Once a reliably Democratic constituency, Catholics have become divided, with traditionalist Catholics making common cause with conservative evangelical Protestants on social issues like opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion. But Mr. Bush is also a born-again Methodist who is likely to face a Roman Catholic opponent, Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts. And the pope and other Catholic officials have repeatedly criticized the Bush administration over the war in Iraq.\n<\/p>\n \nIn the last six months, a handful of Catholic bishops in the United States have already weighed in on the presidential race by threatening to withhold communion from Catholic politicians who disagree with the church’s stance on abortion, a group that includes Senator Kerry.\n<\/p>\n \n The New York Time carried a story about an report published Friday in the national Catholic Reporter, an independent newspaper Bush Asked for Vatican’s Help on Political Issues, Report Says By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK Published: June 13, 2004 On his … Continue reading
\nBush Asked for Vatican’s Help on Political Issues, Report Says<\/big>
<\/strong> By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
\nPublished: June 13, 2004\n<\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2004\/06\/13\/politics\/13george.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"