U.S President Obama met Pope Francis at the Vatican for nearly an hour Thursday amid a complex backdrop of conflict over contraception, concern for the plight of the poor, and the pontiff's emergence as a powerful persona on the world stage.
According to reports, Obama arrived amid the pomp and tradition of the Catholic Church, making his way to greet the pope after a long, slow procession.
"Wonderful meeting you, I'm a great admirer," the president said to Pope Francis when the two met in the Small Throne Room of the papal residence. "Thank you sir, thank you."
The pontiff and the president shook hands before sitting down with their translators at a wooden table in the Papal Library for their meeting.
"I bring greetings from my family," the president said. "The last time I came here to meet your predecessor I was able to bring my wife and children."
Although the two were scheduled to meet for half an hour, their private discussion reportedly lasted only 52 minutes. Obama seem buoyed by the meeting as they emerged and the pope greeted a handful of Obama's senior advisers. Catholic Secretary of State John Kerry pronounced himself "a great admirer of everything you've been doing, as a Catholic, for the church."
Obama then presented the pope with a seed chest with fruit and vegetable seeds used in the White House Garden, in honor of the pope's announcement earlier this year that he's opening the gardens of the papal summer residence to the public. The chest was custom-made of leather and reclaimed wood from Baltimore's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals in the U.S, and inscribed with the date of their meeting.
Obama is the ninth president to make an official visit to the Vatican. His audience marked a change of pace for the president, who has devoted the past three days of a weeklong, four-country trip to securing European unity against Russia's aggressive posture toward Ukraine.
Source: Fox news
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