Here's a preview, according to the White House, of what President George W. Bush will tell Pope Benedict XVI tomorrow during an hour and a half meeting, half of which will take place away from the cameras in the Oval Office.
Dana Perino: "I expect the President will go into some but not a lot of detail about areas where they have a shared commitment and shared values, such as human rights and individual dignity, their work together to combat extremist ideology, especially in the Muslim world that -- obviously, the Pope has been no stranger to criticism by extremists, as well, and so the President and the Pope have shared a desire to work together to combat terrorism. So I expect they will talk about that.
The President is also interested in how the Pope has been working to establish an interfaith dialogue, and that's something that the President welcomes, especially as we are confronting these issues of extremist ideology around the world.
I think they will talk about religious freedom. They will also probably touch on Africa and the shared commitments that they have for helping the human rights crisis there, helping combat and eradicate disease and hunger, amongst other issues there in Africa. And I also expect they will probably talk a little bit about Lebanon."
For the full transcript of the briefing, see:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080415-2.html
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