Vatican City – With Italians converging on Rome to decry the war in Iraq, President Bush received a more subtle but pointed message Saturday about America’s Middle East policy in his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.
Benedict urged the president to pursue a “regional and negotiated” solution to the violent crises engulfing the Middle East, a Vatican statement said, and voiced special alarm about “the worrying situation in Iraq” and the plight of the besieged and dwindling community of Christians there.
Bush later said he sought to reassure the pope about the possibilities for peace.
After his 31-minute private meeting with the pope, the president said, “I was in awe, and it was a moving experience.”
On a six-nation swing, Bush also held talks with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, whose center-left government has clashed frequently with Washington.
Italy is home to the most anti-American sentiment of any of the countries that Bush has chosen to visit following a summit in Germany of leading industrialized countries – as noisy protest rallies Saturday afternoon demonstrated.
During a news conference with Prodi, Bush was asked if he and the pope talked about the concept of a “just war.” The Vatican considered the war in Afghanistan to be justified, but not the one in Iraq.
Bush said that the topic was not discussed but that the pope did express his “deep concern” that the “society evolving in Iraq would not tolerate Christians.” Bush said he told the pontiff that Iraq’s constitution would protect minorities.
Christians in Iraq have been devastated by violence, kidnappings and murder; churches are emptying, either having been bombed or out of fear. Tens of thousands have fled the country.
Bush and Prodi took pains to portray relations between Washington and Rome as friendly and free of serious bilateral disputes, pointing to areas of cooperation.
But they carefully avoided mention of more contentious matters.
Those include the trial-in-absentia that started Friday of 26 Americans, most from the CIA, who are accused of abducting a radical imam in Italy in a so-called “extraordinary rendition.”
Demonstrators from all across the country converged on Rome in trains and buses, many declaring they were protesting their own government’s military spending as much as what they see as Bush’s pro-war policies. Minor scuffles erupted near the Campo dei Fiori market square, but there were no serious injuries.
