US Ambassador to Holy See on Obama audience with Pope Francis

(Vatican Radio) U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Kenneth Hackett says Pope Francis’ audience with President Barack Obama in the Vatican Thursday “sends an important message to the world and to Americans in particular, that President Obama shares their deep respect for the Holy Father and what he’s saying – how he is leading on big, important, moral, ethical world issues. He is engaging the world where it is and leading people to a higher platform of ‘think more deeply about what you’re doing.’"

Ambassador Hackett says he does not have further news about a forthcoming papal journey to the U.S., though he points out that just last week, the Pope met with a group of Catholic leaders from Philadelphia where Francis has been invited to join celebrations for the VIII World Meeting of Families in September 2015. The Pope has also been invited to address a joint session of Congress.

Listen to the extended interview with Ambassador Hackett:

Ambassador Hackett told Vatican Radio’s Tracey McClure that he was struck by one aspect of yesterday’s meeting in the Vatican: “the question of the role of the political leader and the role of the moral leader and how they complement each other and I thought that was intelligent and wise and profound in a way.”

Regarding international media coverage of the meeting, the Ambassador said he found it “kind of tortured at times, contrived. It almost seems that some of the stories were written before the action took place. It was in the same way that people tried to characterize a tension that in my opinion, doesn’t seem to exist between Francis and Benedict...People were looking for something wrong when there was nothing wrong…. And I think there was a little bit of that: ‘won’t there be problems?’ …I believe that the President was looking to share and learn from the Holy Father.”

The Ambassador noted that President Obama has read some of Pope Francis’ writings “and he was impressed. He looked to the Holy Father maybe as a leader …on the moral issues that world leaders need to address as they take on problems of conflict and the search for peace. There was hope that Francis would kind of offer something. And I think maybe that happened.”

Ambassador Hackett acknowledged he was present at the meeting with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin which followed President Obama’s audience with Pope Francis. At that meeting, Hackett said, they talked on a wide range of world issues of great importance: issues of peace and conflict and issues, problems in Latin America; issues of immigration reform in the United States and indeed, questions around the Affordable Care Act where there has been a tension that exists between the Obama administration and the Bishops in the United States, at least some of them. That was discussed, not in great, great detail because there were so many issues to discuss, but it was raised and Cardinal Parolin asked if there is not some room for dialogue and the President said he wanted to. …He said very specifically, he did not want to be at odds with the Church in the United States and didn’t intend to be. “

There are many issues of concern to both sides, the Ambassador said, where “interests converge.” He added that these “shouldn’t be overtaken or overwhelmed by the issues where there is a principle disagreement.”

One of the issues on which the two sides converge is the need to end the global trafficking of human beings. Ambassador Hackett and his predecessors have been actively engaged in efforts to eradicate trafficking. He says he believes there can be more cooperation between the U.S. and the Catholic Church in this area.

He cited “the announcement just a couple of weeks ago of a new initiative on the part of the Holy See, in conjunction with the Anglican Church and some Islamic groups to try to take on this issue on a worldwide (basis) and eliminate human trafficking. I know that we as a government want to be directly in partnership on it. This is a terrible, abusive issue and one that can be eradicated.”

Ambassador Hackett said President Obama “was very taken with Evengelii Gaudium and was picking pieces out of it because it interpreted for him what was in his heart and mind. What the Holy Father has done to engage young people is something magnificent and not only as a politician but as president of the major world power, President Obama respects that and wants to see where there can be collaboration between the United States government and the Holy See and the Catholic Church.”

Some U.S. Catholics were unhappy about the visit but Ambassador Hackett says he doesn’t understand where they’re coming from. “I don’t know how you could be unhappy about your president, whether you voted for him or not, meeting with the leader of the Catholic Church, and the major world moral leader. It just seems not correct to me. You should take pride in that kind of engagement.” He added that the President’s visit was “a sign of the respect that I think is deep within his heart for what Pope Francis has done and said.”

In a press conference following the visit, President Obama said the talks in the Vatican touched on the Israeli Palestinian conflict and Syria and Lebanon. Last year, the President had shown he was ready to use force to end the conflict in Syria while the Pope and the Vatican were urging dialogue.

Asked how committed is the U.S. to resolving these crises - with international attention now focusing on other areas of concern such as Crimea, North Korea and Iran - Ambassador Hackett responded,

“Cardinal Parolin made a very poignant statement in this part of the discussion, and he basically said, in order to get an agreement, each and every party has to give up something. And that formed the basis of a longer discussion about how to deal with Syria, how to deal with Middle East peace. The situation of persecution of Christians throughout the area. The importance of peace in Lebanon and other areas.”

The discussions, he said, acknowledged how difficult conflict resolution is “and how you must wrestle with not good solutions, inadequate solutions, but you’ve got to find a way. And we see that in Ukraine these days- you don’t have the optimum but you work with what you have.”

Asked if there is more space for the U.S. to work towards a negotiated agreement between the different sides in Syria, Ambassador Hackett says “what was talked about is the necessity of dialogue, the necessity of asking the various, sometimes friends in the area and sometimes not so close supporters, to kind of work on the same page – or work off the same page. The movement and support of some of the more radical elements in Syria is troublesome and that was an issue that was discussed. And if groups could find that moderate way… and the point that was raised, quite strongly by Cardinal Parolin, is the concern for the humanitarian situation of the people. First and foremost, that has to be attended to and there should be no blockage in that regard. People are suffering and there are millions of them now. And they’re moving from their home and their lives have been disrupted. And this has to stop.”

Regarding the peace process in the Holy Land, Ambassador Hackett noted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent talks with Palestinians in Jordan. Hackett said President Obama expressed his hope to Cardinal Parolin“that progress would be made” in the process. “It’s all about loosening up the terms and seeing if progress can be made, " concluded Hackett, "and there is a great hope that progress will be made. But it’s difficult…referring to the statement by Cardinal Parolin, ‘everybody’s got to give a little.’”