The Obama administration has rolled out the red carpet for Pope Francis since arrival in the U.S. Tuesday evening, but skipped the usual 21-gun salute that greets world leaders to the White House out of “deference” to the pontiff’s dedication to peace, spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed.
“Some might also recognize the dissonance in welcoming a professed man of peace to the White House … through the repeated firing of weapons,” Earnest said about Francis’ welcoming ceremony Wednesday morning on the South Lawn. “I think that we felt … a slightly more subdued welcoming ceremony was the most appropriate way to welcome Pope Francis to the White House; and based solely on his public reaction to the festivities, it appears that Pope Francis agreed with that.”
Earnest said that the decision was made in consultation with the Vatican.
“[T]his pope has a reputation of somebody who doesn’t revel in pomp-and-circumstance as much as … some other world leaders do,” Earnest explained. “And so it was in deference to his humility that the 21-gun salute was not included in the formal arrival ceremony today.”
Pope Benedict XVI did receive the honor when he visited during President George W. Bush’s presidency in 2008.
President Obama’s gift to Francis, part of the executive branch’s tradition of bestowing gifts to visiting heads of state, played into the peace theme as well.
Obama gave Francis a metal dove sculpted from a piece of the Statute of Liberty that was salvaged during its 1886 restoration. The pedestal was carved from wood reclaimed from the White House lawn, according to the White House. Besides being an internationally recognized sign of peace, doves are the Christian symbol for the Holy Spirit.
