The Following article answers the question. Pray today for both our Pope and our President. May their meeting please Jesus Christ.
BALTIMORE (CNS) — During President Barack Obama’s July 10 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, he will present the pope with a stole that was placed on the remains of St. John Neumann. “It’s a delight that something of one of our Redemptorist saints would be given to our Holy Father,” said Father Patrick Woods, provincial of the Redemptorists’ Baltimore province. “We’re delighted as Americans that our president is visiting the Holy Father and delighted that something belonging to our province would be given to him.” Father Woods said in a statement that the stole was an appropriate gift because it symbolizes the priesthood that was “at the heart of St. John Neumann’s life as a Redemptorist.” He also said the stole, placed on the saint who had worked extensively with immigrants, was symbolic of the new wave of immigration in the United States and the Redemptorists’ continued service to these groups. A stole is a long, narrow strip of cloth worn around the neck by a priest or bishop as part of his liturgical vestments. St. John Neumann, Philadelphia’s fourth bishop, is enshrined in a glass casket under an altar at St. Peter the Apostle Church in Philadelphia. New vestments have been placed on his remains four times since his 1860 death — in 1903, 1962, 1989 and 2008.
Interesting. I think a good gift would have been something that belonged to Elizabeth Ann Seton. She’s the first American born saint, her mother house is near Camp David (so a White House connection) and this year is the 200th anniversary of her birth.
I think the stole was a masterstroke in this Year of the Priest. Someone in the White House is paying attention.