This will be very interesting indeed. Barack Obama is scheduled to knock on the doors of the Vatican on the last day of his G8 summit trip in italy to talk to the Catholic Churchs highest leader and the world’s sole remaining absolute monarch, Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican has welcomed the idea and has opened its doors for the US President despite its reputation as being the Vatican‘s worst nightmare in the White House. We can all rememeber that Obama’s stance regarding abortion issues and family planning has met wide controversy among Bishops and Catholic Clergy which earned him a lot of raised eyebrows. But this act of the US President is very humble indeed and is actually a gesture of reaching out to the Catholic Church despite the adminstration and the Vatican’s different views on life issues. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said,

“The US Ppresident will visit the holy father, Pope Benedict the XVI, to discuss a range of issues, including their shared belief in the dignity of all people”

on the other end of the camp, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi confirmed the reports:

“the pope was ready to meet the president of the United States, Barack Obama, on the afternoon of July 10.”

A Vatican source told the media that the meeting would take place at 4pm. But in spite of these confirmations, the White House expects that the Vatican would be Frank and constructive on controversial issues such as Abortion and stem cell research.

So are we expecting a great battle of moral ideologies? maybe and maybe not. As we all know, the two leaders are not that contradicting on some issues. We can recall that both leaders interestingly made an unprecedented visit to the Islamic Nations to establish lasting diplomatic relationship.

People are hoping that Obama would budge his iron will on some relevant issue like abortion and family planning because if the White House is expecting that the Vatican would compromise morals for diplomacy, they they got the wrong Pope to talk to.

OTWOMD will follow the developments of this talk diligentlly so stay abreast.