He did blow off Bush. Whether he would have done that if Bush had still been ascendant, I couldn’t say, but he did do it.

Here’s Time Magazine’s take on speech at UN:

The Pope’s Quiet Case for the UN

Various hints and rumors suggested that Benedict’s talk would feature (depending on who was hinting) strong statements on (a) the Iraq war, (b) the role of religion in combating terrorism, (c) immigration, (d) the environment or (e) all of the above. Yet when Benedict arrived by car at East 42nd Street after his flight from Washington and a helicopter ride from Kennedy Airport to Manhattan, he had very little to say about any of those hot-button topics. Instead, he presented a carefully composed case — rendered somewhat exotic by the fact that he delivered the first part of it in French and the second in English — for the importance of the U.N. and what he considers the unsung religious basis of its goals.

So maybe he tried to bring it up, but wasn’t exactly outspoken or anything like it.

I like that quotes of opposition are Annan’s, not Pope’s.

A WSJ article from 4/14/2008 starts with folowing quote: “The truth is the Holy See and the U.S. government are now on the same page on Iraq,” said George Weigel, a Catholic writer, theologian and biographer of the late Pope John Paul II.

I am not sure about who refused a private meeting with Bush (after all, Benedict XVI had a nice long meeting with Bush).

In a carefully-worded speech at the United Nations, Benedict underlined the need for diplomacy.

“Multilateral consensus continues to be in crisis because it is still subordinated to the decisions of a few, whereas the world’s problems call for interventions in the form of collective action,” he said, adding that international rules must be “binding”.

Although he did not mention the war in Iraq directly, his speech reminded the audience of the decision by the US and the United Kingdom to bypass the UN before going to war in Iraq in 2003.

Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the UN, branded the war “illegal” because the US failed to get a resolution from the UN and no multi-lateral authorisation was given by the UN Security Council.

“There have been painful lessons for the US, the UN and other member states. I think in the end everybody’s concluded it’s best to work together with our allies and through the UN,” Mr Annan noted.

Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican representative at the UN, said Benedict wanted to attack “the false notion that might makes right”.

Several UN members have complained about the excessive power of large countries such as the United States in the UN Security Council.

The Vatican strongly opposed the war in Iraq, and Benedict said any intervention in another country “should never be interpreted as an unwarranted imposition or a limitation of sovereignty.”
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He called instead for “a deeper search for ways of managing conflicts by exploring every possible diplomatic avenue, and giving attention and encouragement to even the faintest sign of dialogue or desire for reconciliation.”

It hasn’t been a great focus of the US press, go figure. He did refuse a private meeting with Bush.