From: [S]@comcast.net]
Sent: Friday,
June 03, 2011 9:04 PM
To: Webmaster@Adventistlaymen. Com
Subject: Very
interesting article...
(My note- The Papacy –the Beast, The U.S. -
the Image to the Beast, And the Middle East. Interesting to
have all three of these in one article)
*******
Pope meets US vice
president, Palestinian leader in separate meetings
By Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI met with U.S. Vice
President Joseph Biden in an unannounced visit June 3.
Biden, the first Catholic
vice president in U.S. history, met with the pope in what was termed "a personal and
private visit," according to a U.S. official.
In an unusual move, the
Vatican did not announce or comment on the papal audience, which, sources
explained, was because it was not an official visit.
However, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, ran a
headline and one-sentence summary reporting the pope's audience with Biden,
Biden's wife, Jill, and entourage.
The vice president and leaders from about 80 other countries
were in Rome to take part in Italy's June 2 celebration of its 150th
anniversary as a unified nation.
Biden, who supports keeping abortion legal, has said he accepts
church teaching that life begins at conception, but that he does not want to
impose his beliefs in the public policy arena.
Pope Benedict, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, outlined in a
2004 memo to U.S. bishops principles under which bishops or other ministers may
deny Communion to Catholic politicians who consistently promote legal abortion.
As part of a process of pastoral guidance and correction, a minister could
extend a warning against taking Communion, and in the case of "obstinate
persistence" by the politician, the minister "must refuse to
distribute" Communion, the memo said.
Before Biden's papal audience, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks with Pope Benedict as well as with
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone,
the Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti,
the Vatican's foreign minister.
The Vatican said the
talks were "cordial" and focused on "the troubled situation in
the Holy Land," according to a written Vatican statement released after
the meeting.
Particular emphasis was
put "on the urgent need to find a just and lasting solution to the
Israeli-
Palestinian conflict, one capable of
ensuring respect for the rights of all and, therefore, the
attainment of the Palestinian people's
legitimate aspirations for an independent state," the Vatican statement
said.
Soon both Israel and the
Palestinian nation will have to "live in security, at peace
with their neighbors and
within internationally recognized borders," it said.
Peace will come to the
region with the help of the world community and by upholding "a spirit of
cooperation and openness to reconciliation," it said.
The talks also focused on the situation of Christians in the
Palestinian territories and the Middle East, saying Christians make an
"irreplaceable contribution" to society.
The two leaders also said
they hoped that recently resumed talks between the Vatican and the Palestinian
Liberation Organization would "proceed fruitfully toward the elaboration
of a
comprehensive agreement" between
the two parties.
The diplomatic talks, which resumed at the end of 2010, aim to
elaborate ways to implement the "Basic Agreement" between the Vatican
and the PLO. The agreement was signed in 2000 spelling out principles for
guaranteeing church rights and religious freedom in territories administered by
the Palestinian Authority.
END