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Obama oils China-Vatican links
http://atimes.com/atimes/China/CHIN-01-240314.html
Obama oils China-Vatican links
By Francesco Sisci
Mar 24, '14
BEIJING - In a way, his heart will be in China and his mind in Rome. On March 27, when US President Barack Obama meets Pope Francis at the Vatican, he will have wrapped up an important European tour focusing on transatlantic ties and Russia's new posturing in the world, especially in Ukraine, recently severed by Moscow. By then, Obama will have met Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Netherlands, while Obama's wife Michelle, daughters, and mother-in-law (certainly his heart) will have just finished a trip to China. It is proof of how important China is for Obama, and possibly also evidence of how much China might weigh on his meeting with the Pope.
Certainly, the Pope and Obama have plenty to discuss. There are the bilateral issues: for years bishops and civil authorities in America have been at loggerheads over ethical issues (abortion, homosexuality) and judicial-economic issues (the statute of limitations on allegations of sexual harassment by Catholic priests). There are international issues on which the two do not see eye to eye, including questions surrounding Russia, the Middle East, and even Cuba. It all seems very unlike the time of Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, committed allies (although with different angles and priorities) in trying to bring down communist oppression in the Soviet Empire.
The world is now different. Many countries at odds with America - Russia and Syria, for instance - look to the Pope to find a different approach, and the US internally has become split over the Catholic Church, considered by some conservatives almost the bastion of Western values and by some progressives as a drag on liberty and modernity. Certainly, Pope Francis has moved the yardstick on values, which are not at the forefront of his preaching, but internationally on many hot-button issues there has been a growing distance between Rome and Washington.
On China, a priority for both leaders, it is not clear where things stand.
