Vatican City, Jun 3, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Pope John Paul II received President George W. Bush for the third time on Friday morning at the Vatican, and in an unusually long address commended him for promoting values in America, but pressed for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Iraq and the Middle East.
Their previous encounters took place at Castelgandolfo on July 23, 2001 following the G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, and on May 28, 2002 in Rome.
In his address to the American president, his wife and the delegation accompanying them, the Holy Father thanked him "for wishing to meet with me again, in spite of the difficulties presented by your own many commitments during this present visit to Europe and Italy, and by my own departure tomorrow morning for a meeting with young people in Switzerland."
The Pope noted that the president's trip is "to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Second World War and to honor the memory of the many American soldiers who gave their lives for their country and for the freedom of the peoples of Europe. I join you in recalling the sacrifice of those valiant dead and in asking the Lord that the mistakes of the past, which gave raise to appalling tragedies, may never again be repeated. Today I too think back with great emotion on the many Polish soldiers who died for the freedom of Europe."