Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, the incoming chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said that “it would be surprising if the Pope and the president didn’t meet. It’s clear that the Pope does not agree with the president about abortion. He’s made that exceptionally clear. I don’t think that this meeting signals any kind of weakness on the Pope’s part on the life issues, but I think there will also be some areas of agreement, and those areas of agreement are broadly shared by the American bishops.”