Obama, Biden Send Warm Wishes to Pope Francis

POLITICO

March 14, 2013

"Obama, Biden Send Warm Wishes to Pope Francis"

by Katie Glueck

President Barack Obama on Wednesday offered his warm congratulations and prayers for Pope Francis as Vice President Joe Biden readied to lead a delegation to Rome for the papal installation.

“Just as I appreciated our work with Pope Benedict XVI, I look forward to working with His Holiness to advance peace, security and dignity for our fellow human beings, regardless of their faith,” Obama said in a statement. “We join with people around the world in offering our prayers for the Holy Father as he begins the sacred work of leading the Catholic Church in our modern world.”

Earlier Wednesday, Pope Francis — formerly known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who served as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina — became the first non-European to ascend to the papacy in hundreds of years. He is also the first pontiff from Latin America, home to nearlyhalf of the world’s Catholics.

“As a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us, he carries forth the message of love and compassion that has inspired the world for more than two thousand years—that in each other we see the face of God,” Obama continued. “As the first pope from the Americas, his selection also speaks to the strength and vitality of a region that is increasingly shaping our world, and alongside millions of Hispanic Americans, those of us in the United States share the joy of this historic day.”

Biden, America’s first Catholic vice president, is expected to lead a U.S. delegation to Rome for papal installation activities, with the ceremony slated for Tuesday, an administration official told POLITICO.

”Jill and I want to offer our congratulations to His Holiness Pope Francis, and extend our prayers as he takes on this holy responsibility,” Biden said in a statement. “I am happy to have the chance to personally relay my well wishes, and those of the American people, when I travel to Rome for his Inaugural Mass. The Catholic Church plays an essential role in my life and the lives of more than a billion people in America and around the world, not just in matters of our faith, but in pursuit of peace and human dignity for all faiths. I look forward to our work together in the coming years on many important issues.”

The newly named pope, a 76-year-old-Jesuit, came as something of a surprise selection: earlier speculation was that the College of Cardinals was aiming for a younger pontiff, after Pope Benedict XVI resigned over age-related reasons.

The papal pick captured the attention of American politicos for reasons that went beyond the spiritual: Catholics — there are about 75 million in the country— are a key constituency in U.S. politics.

According to 2012 exit poll analysis, Catholics were closely split between Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, with Obama capturing 50 percent of the vote and Romney taking 48 percent. Romney earned almost 60 percent of the white Catholic vote, but Obama took three quarters of Hispanic Catholics, a growing demographic that Obama made note of in his statement about the new pope.

Obama and Pope Francis won’t see eye-to-eye on every issue. The naming of Pope Francis immediately sparked chatter from both advocates and opponents of gay marriage in the U.S., for instance, with both sides noting that Pope Francis, while serving in Argentina, called a proposal to allow gay marriage there “a destructive pretension against the plan of God” (though he also visited AIDS and HIV victims at a hospice, where he kissed and washed the feet of 12 patients). Obama, for his part, now supports gay marriage, as do American Catholics, 54-38 percent, a new poll finds.