I was very disappointed that Benedict XVI did not chide Bush

[hedgehog]

about starting an unjust war and advocating torture. It would also be nice if he took the occasion of the recent Supreme Court ruling to discuss capital punishment.

[CBHagman]

1. I don't know what they might have said in private or...

...if there are any news stories I'm missing about what Benedict might have said about those two issues, but I'd make the following observations.

1. I've seen too many reporters take Bush's "culture of life" comments at face value and give him a pass on his spitting all over the rest of Catholic social justice (e.g., the right to health care, organize, etc.). In last Sunday's Washington Post, Daniel Burke even referred to Bush as the first Catholic president. :puke:

2. It seemed to be pretty oblivious crowd today at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, where Bush made some remarks. The audience actually applauded Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion in the lethal injection case.

David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were the two dissenting justices, though I'd note that their rationales for dissent might not have had to do with personal opposition to the death penalty.

3. Pope Benedict did address human rights in several addresses, notably at the U.N. but also, to some extent, in his homily yesterday.

Still, I wish he'd given Bush a tongue lashing. Maybe he did in private (one can only hope), though Bush was typically smug today.

What's Bush like chastened? I rather hope the world gets to find that one out...

[JNelson6563]

2. It would've been done privately.

The Pope knows how diplomacy works and he's traveling to win friends and influence people. If he were to chide the "leader" of any nation I highly doubt he'd play the bumbling neophyte and do so in front of the whole world.

That's the sort of thing Little Boots would do, not the Pope.

Julie

[WildEyedLiberal]

3. I'm glad he didn't, honestly

I'm glad he avoided any language that might be construed as supportive/critical of policy decisions, because that's a Pandora's Box I don't think ought to be opened.

As happy as we might have been had he openly criticized the war/capital punishment, how would we liberal Catholics feel if he had also strongly condemned abortion and stem cell research in the same speech? The pope (and the Church in general) are openly known to be anti-war as well as anti-abortion, and I think the pope played it wisely by not appearing to endorse any one aspect of the "theology of life" over another, and thus giving no implicit endorsement in the upcoming election.