Even in Vatican City, Obama may not be able to escape the issue of Obamacare. Obama's papal audience

VATICAN CITY — President Barack Obama was once the biggest superstar on the international stage. On Thursday, he headed here to benefit from the popularity of his replacement: Pope Francis.

The 50-minute meeting was a rare chance for Obama to associate himself with a world leader whose cool factor far outweighs his own, and it comes at a critical time in his presidency. The White House is still recovering from what aides call a “lost year,” and the president’s job approval ratings at home are dipping to new lows.


The meeting with the pope and another with the Vatican’s secretary of state included talk of “respect for humanitarian and international law and a negotiated solution between the parties involved” in areas of conflict around the world, the Holy See said in a readout, likely a tip to the situation in Ukraine and Syria’s civil war.

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There was “a discussion on questions of particular relevance for the Church in that country, such as the exercise of the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection,” the Vatican said, hinting at discussion of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate and of abortion. Immigration reform was also discussed, though income inequality — an issue important to the president’s domestic agenda — was not listed by the Vatican.

In public, the visit was cordial and reverent.

“Wonderful meeting you,” Obama said as the pope greeted him in the Small Throne Room, just outside the Papal Library. The pair, plus two interpreters, then walked into the library and took seats on opposite sides of the pope’s desk.

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“It is a great honor. I’m a great admirer,” the president said. “Thank you so much for receiving me.” He also sent regards from first lady Michelle Obama and their daughters, who met Pope Benedict XVI during a 2009 visit here.

After their meeting, the two men exchanged gifts. Obama offered a custom-made box of seeds, acknowledging Francis’s decision to open up the private papal gardens to the public. “If you have a chance to come to the White House, we can show you our garden as well,” the president said.

The pope gave Obama a plaque and an encyclical. “I actually will probably read this in the Oval Office when I’m deeply frustrated. I’m sure it will give me strength and calm me down,” the president said.

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As the visit came to a close, Obama asked the pontiff to pray for the first family, who’ve stood by him throughout his political career. “They’ve been very strong. Pray for them. I would appreciate it,” he said. The pope assented.

Obama planned to use the closely watched meeting to show how aligned he is with the pope on income inequality, poverty and immigration — issues important to both the White House and Democrats as they try to paint Republicans as insensitive to the needs of Americans before the upcoming midterms.

“He needs the Francis bump,” said Chad Pecknold, a theology professor at The Catholic University of America.

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Francis has a 76 percent approval rating among Americans, according to a Gallup poll published Wednesday. Obama’s approval rating in the daily Gallup tracking poll was 42 percent.

But even here, Obama may not have been able to escape the issue that’s dogged his presidency: Obamacare.

The contraceptive mandate has strained his relationship back home with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and it came up at a January meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Vatican counterpart, Archbishop Pietro Parolin. Had the Vatican chosen to highlight that aspect of the president’s meetings in its readout, the contraceptive controversy could have distracted from the White House’s aim to show common cause with the pope on issues that Obama still hopes to advance in his second term.

On income inequality in particular, Obama seems to see Francis as a kindred spirit — and important validator. Launching his renewed income inequality push in December, Obama reminded people that the concerns he had were not unique to America but had been addressed by the pope “at eloquent length,” quoting Francis’s frustration that stock market dips were news but homeless people dying of exposure were not.

White House aides — starting at the top with chief of staff Denis McDonough, who is an observant Catholic — speak excitedly about that connection to the pope. And that’s the sense among their outside allies as well. Francis is a huge help in talking about income inequality, they feel, both because he elevates the issue and depoliticizes it, putting the Democrats onto higher moral ground.

It’s not just income inequality. Speaking to the Human Rights Campaign gala in Los Angeles over the weekend, Vice President Joe Biden — a Catholic, who was the administration’s official representative to Francis’s installation last year — invoked the pope to explain fighting for gay rights around the world.

“To paraphrase Pope Francis of all things, but think about this, think about what he said,” Biden said. “To paraphrase him, ‘Who are we to judge?’ Who are they to judge you and me?”

Thursday’s tightly choreographed visit included a meeting between Francis and Obama for which a small contingent of media was on hand, but only for their introduction.

The trip was Obama’s second to the Vatican since entering the White House. He sat down with Pope Benedict for 30 minutes between an economic summit and trip to Ghana in 2009.

In what was described by both sides as a cordial meeting, Obama and Benedict discussed poverty, the Middle East and the president’s outreach to Muslims. But the Vatican, in a statement at the time, highlighted that the pair disagreed on abortion and stem cell research. Benedict even gave Obama a copy of a Vatican document on bioethics.

Obama was not not scheduled to meet the former pontiff during Thursday’s visit.

The January visit by Kerry with Parolin at the Vatican offers some hints of what Obama and Pope Francis may touch on Thursday. They discussed global poverty, the conflicts in Syria and South Sudan and the Israel-Palestinian peace talks.

Parolin also raised the contraception requirement under the Affordable Care Act, describing it in a statement as an area of “special interest” to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In 2012, the Catholic revolt on the issue created huge political problems for Obama as he began his reelection campaign, leading to tense Oval Office meetings with New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the conference president, which threatened to broaden and deepen the opposition to Obamacare overall.

The U.S bishops remain steadfast opponents of the coverage requirement, arguing that the exemption for religious institutions is too narrow.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court granted a request by the Little Sisters of the Poor — an order of Catholic nuns who operate nursing homes — for a temporary reprieve from complying with the administration’s rules for opting out of contraception coverage. The justices are widely expected to hear a challenge to those rules sometime in the court’s next term, but it has not yet agreed to take such a case.

On Tuesday, the justices heard cases brought by for-profit companies whose owners object to paying for certain methods of contraception.

“The U.S. bishops are very interested observers of the meeting, but we’re not in a position to advise the pope or the president on what to do,” said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the bishops. “We are in a position of observing. We are not dictating.”

But the conference is watching very closely, issuing a statement ahead of the meeting saying that though it sees common ground with Obama over immigration and international peace, “There remain areas of concern, such as religious liberty, marriage and the right to life. The bishops have been encouraged by Pope Francis in their efforts to address these issues.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that he thinks Obama has an obligation to get into a discussion of the business contraception issue with Francis.

“He ought to explain to the pope why he is telling businesses in America they can’t remain true to their faith and stay in business,” Paul told Fox News.

Candida Moss, a theology professor at the University of Notre Dame, said before the meeting she thought the amount of time spent on abortion issues should be “quite limited.”

“The Vatican has very professional-trained diplomats, experienced diplomats when it comes to dealing with governments,” Moss said. “They concluded it doesn’t make a lot of sense spending time arguing about things that are not going to change. You focus on areas where you can make incremental differences. … They know where Obama is coming from.”

Francis Rooney, the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican from 2005 to 2008, said he suspects Parolin brought up the issue with Kerry so the pope doesn’t have to do it with Obama.

“I saw that as a pre-emptive strike,” Rooney said.

But there’s no shortage of other issues that groups have suggested should be on the agenda for the meeting, from opening up relations with Cuba — where the pope’s Latin American roots might provide extra help — to getting Francis’s backing for Obama’s environmental agenda.

“This state visit with the pope provides President Obama a unique opportunity to highlight his significant environmental accomplishments amongst a highly receptive audience at the Vatican and launch an international conversation about our shared moral responsibility to protect God’s creation,” said James Salt, executive director of the advocacy organization Catholics United.

Budoff Brown reported from Vatican City. Epstein and Dovere reported from Washington. Josh Gerstein contributed from Washington.