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Obama Asks Pope To Pray For Ted Kennedy

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Jul 10, 2009 6:40 pm US/Eastern

Obama Asks Pope To Pray For Ted Kennedy

VATICAN CITY (CBS) ― President Barack Obama gave Pope Benedict XVI a personal letter from ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy Friday.
 
White House national security aide Denis McDonough said Obama and Benedict discussed Kennedy at the end of a half-hour one-on-one meeting at the Vatican.

Obama asked the pope to pray for Kennedy, a member of one of the United States' most prominent Roman Catholic families and a politically ally to Obama.
 
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One that Obama phoned Kennedy after the meeting.

"The President just as we lifted off spoke with Senator Kennedy for about 10 minutes, telling him that he had delivered the letter on his behalf to the Pope today," Gibbs said. 

Obama is now on his way to Ghana.
 
Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, was diagnosed a year ago with terminal brain cancer.

His office confirmed to CBS station WBZ-TV the letter was delivered to the pope, but Kennedy's staff refused to say anything more about it, calling the letter "personal."
 
Gibbs also had little to say about it.

"The contents of the letter were not known to anybody that I know of except Senator Kennedy," he said.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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