Fox News reporter Bill O'Reilly has analyzed the recent meeting between President Obama and Pope Francis, who met for a little less than an hour in the Vatican on Thursday. O'Reilly's "Talking Points" disclosed the main issues that were discussed between the two leaders, who seemed to enjoy meeting with one another.
Desert News National reports that President Obama and Pope Francis discussed a variety of topics during their private meeting in the Papal Library, including immigration issues and social justice for the poor. The Pope reportedly also mentioned that he was concerned about religious liberties in the United States, alluding to the Human Health Services contraception mandate which has been opposed in court by Christian businesses such as Hobby Lobby. Although the Pope did not say much more himself, his representatives at the Vatican spoke with President Obama and made it very clear that the church opposes the American law forcing Christians to purchase coverage for abortive and sterilization drugs. "The Vatican believes President Obama is harming American Catholics and other Christians by forcing them to buy something that violates their religious beliefs," O'Reilly says.
President Obama and the Pope each expressed their desire to help alleviate poverty, although their political views may or may not align. "The nuance here is how to provide social justice," O'Reilly says. While he does not know how the Pope feels about Obama's ideology, O'Reilly himself vehemently disagrees with the President's means of granting social justice to the poor. "The president believes you take from the affluent and business and you give, without any strings, to those in need," he says. O'Reilly believes that the needs of the poor are better met by giving them greater opportunity to succeed in a flourishing economy. "Fair and widespread opportunity equals social justice - confiscating wealth does not," says O'Reilly.
O'Reilly speculates that the Pope and the President may have disagreed when it came to discussing immigration - "The Pope is against America deporting illegal aliens ... believing it disrupts families and harms the poor," he says. President Obama, on the other hand, has been "very aggressive" in deporting illegal immigrants in the United States.
Overall, the two seemed to enjoy one another's company, and Obama reportedly emerged from the meeting with much excitement. "I was extremely moved by his insights about the importance of us all having a moral perspective on world problems, and not simply thinking in terms of our own narrow self-interests," Obama says of his meeting with the Pope.
