WASHINGTON – President Obama is heading to the Vatican this spring to meet Pope Francis and talk about the Pope’s anti-poverty mission, the White House announced Tuesday.
The White House had already said Obama wanted to meet the new Pope, whose commitment to direct the Catholic church’s focus on the poor has won him international acclaim and landed him as Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year.”
“The President will continue on to Vatican City on March 27 to meet with His Holiness, Pope Francis,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in statement.
“The President looks forward to discussing with Pope Francis their shared commitment to fighting poverty and growing inequality.”
Obama is retooling his own second-term agenda to focus more on U.S. income inequality, as he prepares for next week’s State of the Union speech.
On his own visit to Rome this month, Secretary of State John Kerry previewed the visit when he said: “I know that the Holy Father is anticipating the visit of President Obama here.”
When in Rome, Obama will meet with President Giorgio Napolitano and Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
He’ll also travel to Belgium and the Netherlands, where he’ll participate in a nuclear security summit.
Obama isn’t the only U.S. pol hoping to bring himself in close proximity to his eminence – and perhaps pray some of the pope’s global popularity will rub off.
Mayor de Blasio, who met with Timothy Cardinal Dolan this month, said he wants the Pope to come to New York.