On June 4, 2004, President George W. Bush met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, and the Pope wasn't very happy with the President. The subject of the Pope's disliking was the war in Iraq that the President had just undertaken. The Pontiff didn't couch his words with the President in the room.

With President Bush at his side, Pope John Paul II talked about his unhappiness over the invasion of Iraq and he urged the president to hasten the restoration of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. The two world leaders had a 15-minute private meeting. Later, when talking with reporters, the Pope mixed praise for the United States with a diplomatically worded but unmistakable expression of displeasure with the war and its aftermath. He said that he welcomed the establishment of an interim Iraqi government, but said it was ''a moment of great concern'' for the Middle East and he called on the United States to work quickly toward a new United Nations resolution.

Pope John Paul II said, ''It is the evident desire of everyone that this situation now be normalized as quickly as possible with the active participation of the international community and, in particular, the United Nations organization, in order to ensure a speedy return of Iraq's sovereignty, in conditions of security for all its people.''

One of the items of concern for the Pontiff was the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by the United States which, he said, had undermined the broader battle against terrorism. He told reporters: ''In the past few weeks, other deplorable events have come to light which have troubled the civic and religious conscience of all, and made difficult a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values,. In the absence of such a commitment, neither war nor terrorism will ever be overcome.''

Unlike the welcome that Italians had given to President Dwight Eisenhower in 1959, thousands of demonstrators marched through Rome on the first day of President Bush's three-day trip to Italy and France. They protested against the war and American foreign policy.

The government of Italy ad committed nearly 3,000 troops in Iraq, and it had been one of Mr. Bush's most steadfast allies in the war. One of the purposes of the president's stop was to thank Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. President Bush also noted the entrance of allied forces into Rome on June 4, 1944.

In choosing his meeting with the pope, President Bush expected some criticism. There was a political aspect to his visit, as Bush would face the electorate seeking re-election in five months. Bush hoped to win a bigger share of the Catholic vote in his re-election race, and his appearance with the pope held the potential to assist him in that regard. He had been touting his stance on abortion in hoping to win Catholic votes. Even the pope acknowledged this when he said to the president, ''I also continue to follow with great appreciation your commitment to the promotion of moral values in American society, particularly with regard to respect for life and the family.''

Bush's presumptive Democratic opponent in the presidential race was Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, a Catholic. But some Roman Catholic bishops in the United States threatened to withhold the sacrament of holy communion from politicians who support abortion rights, and that included Senator Kerry. So on the one hand the Pope may have helped President Bush on domestic issues, he was critical of the President for his foreign policy. He said, ''Mr. President, your visit to Rome takes place at a moment of great concern for the continuing situation of grave unrest in the Middle East, both in Iraq and in the Holy Land.''

President Bush subsequently awarded the 84 year old Pontiff the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award, and used the occasion to set out his view of how his administration views its role in the world. The pope thanked Mr. Bush and said, ''God Bless America.''

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