c. 2004 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II told President Bush on Friday (June 4) that his opposition to the U.S.-led intervention in Iraq remains “unequivocal,” but he praised the appointment of a new president and interim government as “an encouraging step” toward restoration of Iraq’s sovereignty.

Bush met with the pope at the Vatican on the first day of a three-day presidential visit to Italy and France to mark the 60th anniversaries of the liberation of Rome and the D-Day invasion of Normandy.

Italian authorities deployed a security force of 10,000 police and soldiers, diverted 30 flights from Rome’s Ciampino Airport and closed off St. Peter’s Square during Bush’s visit to the Vatican. Anti-war demonstrators clashed briefly with paramilitary Carabineri in Piazza Venezia in the center of the city.

The president, who presented the Roman Catholic pontiff with America’s Medal of Freedom, received both criticism and encouragement during the election-year audience that political strategists saw as a bid for Catholic votes. The pope praised Bush for his pro-life stand on abortion and his opposition to same-sex marriages and twice declared, “God Bless America.”

Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls described the 15-minute private meeting between the pope and the president in John Paul’s study overlooking St. Peter’s Square as “very cordial.”

“They expressed the same views, above all with regard to the normalization process in Iraq, which is just beginning,” the spokesman said.

But in a brief address at a televised ceremony following the private meeting, John Paul, speaking in a faltering voice, called the abuse of Iraqis by U.S. servicemen and women “deplorable,” and he urged Washington to seek closer relations with Europe.

The 84-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff tried and failed last year to convince the Bush administration to abandon plans for war in Iraq and instead concentrate its energies on ending the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

“Mr. President,” the pope said, “your visit to Rome takes place at a moment of great concern for the continuing situation of grave unrest in the Middle East, both in Iraq and in the Holy Land. You are very familiar with the unequivocal position of the Holy See in this regard, expressed in numerous documents, through direct and indirect contacts and in the many diplomatic efforts which have been made.”

John Paul said he believed there was now a consensus on the need to normalize the situation in Iraq as quickly as possible with active United Nations participation “in order to ensure a speedy return of Iraq’s sovereignty, in conditions of security for all its people.”

“The recent appointment of a head of state in Iraq and the formation of an interim Iraqi government are an encouraging step toward the attainment of this goal,” he said.

The pope called for a similar effort to open “new negotiations, dictated by a sincere and determined commitment to dialogue between the government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.”

Recalling “the tragic day of 11 Sept. 2001,” John Paul acknowledged the need for a war on terrorism but sharply criticized the sacrifice of human rights in the waging of it and spoke out for the first time on last month’s scandal over the abuse of prisoners in Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib.

“In the past few weeks other deplorable events have come to light which have troubled the civic and religious conscience of all, and made more difficult a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values,” the pope said. “In the absence of such a commitment neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome.”

John Paul urged Bush to seek “a fuller and deeper understanding” with Europe in facing this and other pressing international problems.

At the same time, the pope had high praise for Bush’s commitment to fighting war, illness and poverty in Africa.

“I also continue to follow with great appreciation your commitment to the promotion of moral values in American society, particularly with regard to respect for life and the family,” he told Bush.

Bush spoke only briefly during the ceremony in the ornate Sala Clementina in the Apostolic Palace at which he presented John Paul with the presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award, citing him as “a hero of our time.”

The president told the pope he is “respected, admired and greatly loved” in America. He pledged that the U.S. government would “work for human liberty and human dignity in order to spread peace and compassion.”

“We appreciate the strong symbol of freedom that you have stood for and we recognize the power of freedom to change societies and to change the world,” he said.

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Bush and his wife, Laura, arrived 10 minutes late for the audience, driving in a 30-car motorcade from a meeting with Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi through streets emptied of traffic. Their 16-member entourage included Secretary of State Colin Powell, but National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was absent.

As the motorcade passed small groups of tourists and Italians on Via della Conciliazione, the broad avenue leading from the Tiber River to the Vatican, there were both applause and whistles of derision.

The Rev. Patrick McMahon, a Carmelite monk from Washington, waved a multicolored peace flag. “Bush is against life,” he said, accusing the president of fostering “terrorism and violence” and alienating the Islamic world.

The audience was the third that Bush has had with John Paul. They met at the pope’s country residence at Castelgandolfo south of Rome on July 23, 2001 and at the Vatican on May 28, 2002.

DEA/PH END RNS