President Obama has decided to greet Pope Francis with transgendered activists, the first gay Episcopal Bishop who is now already divorced, and activist Catholic nuns. The Vatican is not happy about it and is pushing back.

On the eve of Pope Francis’s arrival in the U.S., the Vatican has taken offense at the Obama administration’s decision to invite to the pope’s welcome ceremony transgender activists, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and an activist nun who leads a group criticized by the Vatican for its silence on abortion and euthanasia.

The Obama Administration is no doubt thrilled to make a show of it and push a secularist, anti-Catholic agenda while embarrassing Pope Francis and putting the Pope in an awkward political position.

According to a senior Vatican official, the Holy See worries that any photos of the pope with these guests at the White House welcoming ceremony next Wednesday could be interpreted as an endorsement of their activities.

But Barack Obama would never do this if the Pope was a major trading partner, had a military, or was a totalitarian despot who snuffed out human rights activists.

This was, after all, the President of the United States who sent the Dalai Lama out the back door by the trash so as not to offend the Chinese.

This is the President who turned his back on the Iranian Green Revolution so he could do business with Iran’s totalitarian dictators.

The Chinese Premier is coming for a state visit. What are the odds that the President will greet him with Tibetan dissidents and Taiwanese freedom protestors. What are the odds there will be any there who fled after Tiananmen? I put the odds and slightly less than zero.

Then, of course, there are the Cubans. The President did nothing to work to improve the situation of Cuban human rights activists in jail. He turned a blind eye to them while trying to improve relations with that totalitarian regime.

But the Pope? Oh, we can greet the Pope with transgendered activists, gay rights activists, and Catholics who disagree with the Pope on Catholic doctrine. That’s really standing up to power and speaking truth!!

President Obama, in fact, is only willing to stand up and speak truth when it costs him nothing. He’s never met a totalitarian he wasn’t willing to kneel in front of.