in benedict ’s case , obama acknowledged only political parity , not moral authority .
compare this to obama ’s relationship with pope benedict xvi .
late last year , when president obama reviewed the draft of a speech he was scheduled to give on economic inequality , he sent it back with a request : he wanted his speechwriter to add a quote from pope francis ’s recent letter to the catholic church .
with francis is the authority brought in to lend credibility to obama ’s policies .
by quoting him in that december address , obama deferred to francis as a moral exemplar — and a model for action of a decidedly temporal nature .
while it ’s true that the pope is the head of the vatican state , that ’s hardly his primary role .
while it ’s true that the pope is the head of the vatican state , that ’s hardly his primary role .
‘ how could it be , ’ he wrote , ‘ that it ’s not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure , but it is news when the stock market loses two points ?
at the conclusion of his visit to the vatican in 2009 , obama reportedly said that he looked forward to “ a very strong relationship between our two countries .