Bush pulls out all the stops for visit

THE leader of the world’s Roman Catholics has been to the White House only once in history, when President Carter hosted John Paul II in 1979.

That changes this week, and President George W Bush is pulling out all the stops: driving out to a suburban military base to meet Pope Benedict XVI’s plane, bringing a giant audience to the south lawn and hosting a fancy East Room dinner.

President Bush has never before given a visiting leader the honour of picking him up at the airport.

A crowd of up to 12,000 is due at the White House tomorrow morning for the Pope’s official, pomp-filled arrival ceremony.

The crowd will be the largest of Bush’s presidency. It even beats the audience last spring for Queen Elizabeth II, which numbered about 7,000. The president explained the special treatment — particularly the airport greeting.

“One, he speaks for millions. Two, he doesn’t come as a politician; he comes as a man of faith,” Bush told the EWTN Global Catholic Network.

The Bush-Benedict get-together will be the 25th meeting between a pontiff and a sitting US president. President Bush has had a total of five meetings with two popes.

There are more than 64 million reasons for this, as Catholics number nearly a quarter of the US population, making them a desirable constituency.

On social issues, such as abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research, President Bush and the Pope have plenty of common ground.

But they disagree over the war in Iraq, just as President Bush did with John Paul.