WASHINGTON - Pope John Paul II and President George W. Bush shared a bond based on their strong religious convictions, but the relationship was strained by the Vatican's opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Bush is a Methodist, but took a strong interest in the pope's works and often refered to the Vatican leader as his health declined in recent months.
"The world has lost a champion of human freedom," he said after the pope's death.
John-Paul II and Bush met three times following Bush's ascendancy to the presidency in January 2001. They shared a similar commitment to "culture of life" values that included fighting abortion and opposing in recent weeks the euthanasia of brain-damaged Florida woman Terri Schiavo.
Visiting Rome in June 2004, in the middle of the US presidential election campaign, Bush told the pope, "I 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."
Nearly 65 million Catholics live in the United States, making it the country's largest denomination.
Bush, although a Republican raised in the Protestant Methodist tradition, garnered strong support in the 2004 elections from Catholics, traditionally Democratic voters.
Analysts said at the time that Catholic voters chose Bush over liberal Catholic Democratic candidate John Kerry because of Bush's public expression of religious faith and commitment to conservative religious principles.
Like the pope, Bush cited his religious values in opposing abortion and homosexual marriage.
The two leaders also made strong comments on the case of Schiavo, the Florida woman in a "persistent vegetative state" who died Thursday, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed. Both said Schiavo should have been allowed to continue living.
However, the US campaign against Iraq, and the invasion launched in March 2003 placed a cloud over their relationship.
In 1999, John Paul II wanted to visit the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq which, according to the Bible, is where God first contacted the prophet Abraham. The pope hoped to renew links with Iraq's tens of thousands of Christians.
But the United States and Britain opposed the plan for safety reasons and also fearing that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein would seize upon it for propaganda purposes.
Several weeks before the US-led invasion of Iraq, John Paul II dispatched Cardinal Pio Laghi, a Bush family friend, to Washington to deliver a message beseeching Bush to stand back from the conflict and follow the path of peace.
The pope's prayer fell on deaf ears, but Bush later requested an audience with John Paul II in June 2004 during a visit to Italy.
Following the US occupation of Iraq, the pope was also seen as being critical when he called for a rapid restoration of Iraqi soveriegnity.
He made another critical stament after the revelations of torture in Baghdad of Iraqi prisoners by US soldiers, saying it would not help to end war or terrorism.
"In the past few weeks other deplorable events have come to light which have troubled the civil and religious conscience of all, and made more difficult a serene and resolute commitment to shared human values," he said.
04/02/2005 21:07 GMT