Pope Francis meeting could ease US Catholic tensions

US president Barack Obama meets Pope Francis in the Vatican today at the end of his European tour in a meeting that could help with his domestic agenda and ease tensions with the US Catholic hierarchy.

The first meeting between the leaders is likely to be punctuated by an exchange of compliments about each man’s devotion to social inclusion, income inequality and improving the plight of the poor.

Obama is a fan of the pontiff. In October he said he was “hugely impressed” with the pope and by his “incredible humility, incredible sense of empathy to the least of these, to the poor”.

For a man who started his political activism as a community organiser working with the archdiocese of Chicago, the president will highlight the common ground between them. He will also skirt around his support for abortion rights and gay marriage, which has put him at loggerheads with US bishops.

The president’s push to bridge the income gap between rich and poor corresponds with the pontiff’s agenda, while the church’s de-emphasis on abortion, gay marriage and contraception during the pope’s first year in charge has brought the Vatican closer to Obama’s progressivism.

Their meeting takes place two days after the US supreme court heard oral arguments on a legal challenge to a provision in the president’s healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, which requires employers to provide workers a full range of contraceptives, including morning-after pills.

Concessions
The Obama administration has already made concessions on religious grounds, rowing back on the contraceptive rule by exempting churches and religious bodies, and permitting non-profit religious groups such as Catholic hospitals or universities not to pay for contraceptives directly. The White House has, however, refused to allow for-profit businesses to opt out of the contraceptive provision.

The measure drew a strong response from US bishops, who see the most radical piece of social legislation to be passed in the US in generations as an attack on religious liberties.

Obama and Pope Francis meet at a time of contrasting fortunes. While Obama's approval ratings languish at the lowest level of his presidency – 41 per cent in a poll this month from the Wall Street Journal and NBC News – Francis scored an 88 per cent approval among US Catholics in December, according to a poll by CNN and market rese- arch firm ORC International.

"Francis has approval ratings that Obama would die for," says Republican strategist John Feehery. "Obama is trying to get some reflected glory."

Catholics are a powerful force in US politics, comprising about a quarter of the electorate. Their vote in recent presidential elections has largely mirrored the overall result. Within their own base, they are split along racial lines. White Catholics voted against Obama in 2008 and in 2012, while Hispanics, a heavily Catholic bloc, voted overwhelmingly for him.

Hispanics have emerged as a more influential force in elections as they become a greater portion of the overall body of voters.

Strong foothold
Within the body politic, Catholicism also has a strong foothold. The three men in line to the presidency, US vice-president Joe Biden, House speaker John Boehner, a Republican, and the longest- serving senator, Pat Leahy, a Democrat, are all Catholics. Obama's chief of staff, Denis McDonough, one of the most powerful figures in the US administration, is a devout Catholic.

Strong alliances between presidents and popes have borne fruit in the past. Ronald Reagan's 1982 meeting with John Paul II created an allia- nce that helped push communism out of eastern Europe.

While they may find consensus on Ukraine and Syria, Obama and Francis are unlikely to form a similar coalition after today's meeting.

The Holy See has not been afraid to question the foreign policy and military strategy of Obama’s administration. Last year it intervened in the debate on the moral pitfalls of the administration’s targeted killing with unmanned drones.

Illegal immigrants
Immigration reform is one subject where the president is likely to find a powerful ally in Francis. As efforts have faltered to reshape US immigration laws to put an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants on a track to citizenship, Francis could assist Obama in winning over Boehner and other Catholics within the Republicans ranks whose support is essential to pass new immigration laws.

Earlier this month Boehner extended a formal invitation to Francis to address a joint meeting of the US Congress in what would be a first for a pope or any religious head of state. Obama’s meeting at the Vatican today could create some momentum on immigration reform.

"It will be interesting to see what the chemistry is between them," says John K White, a professor of politics at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC.

“That is the real unknown. You really cannot underestimate the importance of that in foreign relations. When these two men meet, if a chemistry is established, that can lead to fruitful results.”