Bishops reach out to Obama via Chicago

Cardinal Francis E. George (left), the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Sen. Barack Obama, the president-elect of the United States, obviously have a deep disagreement over abortion, but they do have one thing in common: they both hail from Chicago (George is a native; Obama a transplant).

Yesterday, at the final news conference of the bishops' meeting (which continues behind closed doors today), I asked the cardinal about his relationship with the president-elect, who has represented Chicago in the Legislature or the Congress for the last decade. The relationship, of course, matters because the bishops have a fairly broad array of public policy concerns. This was the cardinal's response:

"The relationship is not very developed. I’ve met him a number of times, and it’s always been a friendly meeting, never substantive. I would hope, since he is a citizen of Illinois, and Chicago, that we could begin a relationship based upon that fact.''

Another reporter asked whether George is making any effort to meet with the president-elect. His answer: "there are some discussions around that.''

(Photo by Steve Ruark of AP.)