Bush to Give Pope Presidential Medal of Freedom

I suppose it’s harder to tell someone to go to hell when they are presenting you with their country’s most prestigious award for service, eh?

President Bush will award Pope John Paul the Presidential Medal of Freedom Friday, the highest U.S. civilian award, a U.S. official said Thursday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the pontiff was being honored for “years of fighting for freedom and for his important moral voice.”

Bush is to meet the Polish pope at the Vatican Friday.

Should be interesting to see what Pope John Paul II has to say, especially in the light of the ad limina visits to Rome by the American bishops.