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American Morning
Bush, Advisers Meet Pope
Aired May 28, 2002 - 10:27 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: We bring you back live with more pictures of the historic meeting between Pope John Paul II and President Bush.
We are joined by CNN's Kelly Wallace. She has been traveling with the president -- Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello again, Kris.
We are seeing many of the president's top advisers that, is Condoleezza Rice. You can't see her at the moment, but there she is, the president's national security adviser meeting the pope. The president and pope. That is now Andy Card, the president's chief of staff. The president and pope met behind closed doors for what appeared to be about 25 minutes long. This an important man, the president's senior political adviser, a man who definitely believed to be behind this administration very much courting the Catholic vote. Believing Catholics could be very, very important for the president's reelection in 2004. We will see another familiar face there, Ari Fleischer, the president's press secretary. Quite a moment, of course, for some of the president's top advisers to meet the pope.
And this again, coming at the end of the meeting, between the two leaders, this is the second meeting, Kris, as we said, between President Bush and the pope since the president came into office. You will recall the two men met last summer in July. That was right before the president was it make a very big decision about whether to support even limited funding for embryonic funding for stem cell research, and the key issue we know that took place here, the president saying before the meeting that he would, in fact, raise the controversy, the growing sexual abuse scandal involving Catholic priests with the pope.
Mr. Bush telling reporters that would he listen to what the pope had to say, talk about his concerns for the standing of the Catholic Church. How he feels it is an important institution and how he appreciates everything the pope is doing in this regard -- Kris.
BUCKLEY: Kelly, Secretary of State Colin Powell sitting to the right of the pope.
WALLACE: That is right. Secretary of State Colin Powell, one of the first to come into the room after the two leaders met by themselves or maybe an aid or two, but it is behind closed doors for what appears to be 30 minutes. It was unclear exactly what would be on the agenda. Aids said the president would discuss whatever the pope wanted to talk about; certainly, international issues likely to be discussed, tensions in the Middle East, the global fight against terrorism.
The pope definitely has closer ties to this administration than he did with the previous administration. Mr. Bush and the pope see eye to eye on issues such as abortion, the president's faith based agenda, encouraging religious groups, such as Catholic Charities to provide more social services.
The disagree on some issues, though, including the death penalty. Again, this is a meet and greet opportunity for Mr. Bush to bring an end to his European tour by meeting a very important person.
OSBORN: Absolutely. And it appears they are exchanging something. I wanted to ask you about what, if anything, you might be hearing about the possible response of the pope to the president's decision to bring up the sex abuse scandal.
Of course, after that recent meeting in the Vatican there was some remarks to that effect, but it certainly was tempered, you might say.
WALLACE: Yes, and we are listening, Kris. I'm not sure we can make out -- let's just listen if there is anything that the pope might be saying.
Let's just listen for a second.
I believe you could hear the pope saying, and President Bush agreeing, that it was a very good meeting. Now shaking hands, Kris. This bringing an end to the president's meeting there.
I can tell you, Kris, that Vatican officials were not exactly pleased that the president had indicated he would raise the issue. While they said they certainly welcome the visit of the president to the Vatican and certainly appreciate what he is doing in terms of improving relations with the Vatican and the Catholic Church, there was some uneasiness about the president raising the issue in a public setting.
Following this, Kris, as I was saying the president will get in the presidential limousine and head back to the airport, bringing to an end a seven day European tour that took him to four countries -- France, Italy, Germany and Russia, Kris.
OSBORN: Kelly Wallace, live from Rome, traveling with the president and bringing us the latest on a very historic meeting between President Bush and the Pope.
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