c. 2007 Religion News Service
VATICAN CITY (RNS) President Bush is scheduled to meet leaders of a Roman Catholic lay organization prominent for its work on peace, health and human rights during a visit to Rome next Saturday (June 9).
In between his meetings with Pope Benedict XVI and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, Bush will attend a roundtable meeting with the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood.
Founded in 1968, Sant’Egidio describes itself as an organization of Catholic lay people “dedicated to evangelization and charity.” It is perhaps best known for its work on conflict resolution and humanitarian aid in war-torn and underdeveloped countries.
“We are very honored that he would come here after meeting with the pope,” said Mario Marazziti, a co-founder of Sant’Egidio, who noted that he was awaiting final confirmation of the visit. “We are always honored to receive the greatest democracy in the world.”
The White House on Friday confirmed that the meeting is on the president’s schedule but declined to discuss specifics.
The meeting is perhaps most striking for its strange-bedfellows dynamic. Sant’Egidio’s Web site calls war “the mother of every poverty” and the “absence of every justice” and is also an outspoken opponent of the death penalty.
In the lead-up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the late Pope John Paul II used a speech to Sant’Egidio to voice his opposition to the war. “We must not be resigned almost that war is inevitable,” he said.
Marazziti said the meeting was requested by the White House several weeks ago and is scheduled to last 50 minutes. Topics of discussion will certainly include “Africa, AIDS and a global strategy for world peace,” Marazziti said.
Asked if their discussion might touch on Iraq or the alleged abuse of terrorism suspects in U.S. custody _ topics for which the Bush administration has been fiercely criticized in Europe _ Marazziti said only: “We know that we can’t discuss the whole world in one meeting.”
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Sant’Egidio has helped broker agreements to reduce or end civil conflict in the Balkans, Africa and Central America, and is currently working to lay the groundwork for peace negotiations in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Many of the organization’s programs have involved collaboration with U.S. government agencies.
“This meeting has its roots in years of Sant’Egidio’s working with the American administration on several world issues,” Marazziti said. Then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited the community’s headquarters in 1998, when she praised its work to reduce strife in the Serbian province of Kosovo.
Among those areas in which Sant’Egidio’s work has been of particular interest to the Bush administration, Marazziti pointed to AIDS, Darfur and the Ivory Coast, where after five years of civil war the community helped negotiate a peace agreement signed in March 2007.
Bush, who is visiting Rome for one day en route from Poland to Albania, will also meet with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
Prior to the roundtable at Sant’Egidio, the president and Mrs. Bush will tour the nearby Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, one of the oldest churches in Rome, which dates to before the fourth century.
_ Adelle M. Banks contributed to this report from Washington.
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