Can we ever seperate the POPE's 'religion' from our "STATE"?

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Obama visited Pope Benedict XVI today in Italy (upon closing of G8 summit) and according to one report, [b]"The White House says it expects "frank" but constructive talks to be held between Obama, a Protestant, and the spiritual leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics[/i]."[/b] Sounds like they're on point with the president about pushing for peace in the Middle East but when it comes to abortion and stem cell research the Pope was none the least frank but what exactly said we don't know yet. And before Obama was even able to speak to Benedict he had to touch base with the POPE's SECRETARY OF STATE, come on people!! Is the POPE his own president or a "spiritual leader" ??? If he is just a spiritual leader I'd much rather him to keep his religion out of my politics and stop trying to steer the future of everyones politics---[[[[[SPIT]]]] But of course we wouldn't want to go messing with the dear bloodline of the POPE, do we? I'd love to get a textbook of all their science. -------------------------------------------------------- The Christian Church spent its first three centuries as an outlawed organization and was thus unable to hold or transfer property. Early Christian churches congregated in the audience halls of well-to-do individuals, and a number of Early Christian churches built round the edges of Ancient Rome were ascribed to patrons who held the property in custody for the Church: see titulus. After the ban was lifted by the Emperor Constantine I, the Church's private property grew quickly through the donations of the pious and the wealthy; the Lateran Palace was the first significant donation, a gift of Constantine himself. Other donations soon followed, mainly in mainland Italy but also in the provinces, but the Church held all of these lands as a private landowner, not as a sovereign entity. When in the fifth century the Italian peninsula passed under the control of first Odoacer and then the Ostrogoths, the church organization in Italy, and the bishop of Rome as its head, submitted to their sovereign authority while beginning to assert spiritual supremacy. [wiki]