ROME – Though all analogies are inexact, it’s nevertheless tempting to say that with regard to Cardinal Matteo Zuppi’s meeting today with US President Joe Biden regarding a war, we’ve been down this road before.
The question is whether this journey will end the same way, or whether another outcome is possible.
Twenty years ago, a pope faced a major international crisis threatening wider global conflict. He dispatched a trusted Italian cardinal as a special envoy to the White House, where he was swiftly received by a US president perceived to be deeply favourable to the Pope and his Vatican team. Bush was such an admirer of John Paul II, in fact, that he would present the Polish pope with the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award bestowed by the United States.
