President Obama meets Pope Francis for the first time in Vatican City on Thursday, March 27.
The U.S. President, Obama meets Pope Francis for about 50 minutes which is way longer than anybody has expected. The first official visit of the president started at around 10:27 in the morning along with the other U.S. delegation. President Obama also introduced the other members of the delegation to Pope Francis which included Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Advisor Susan Rice and press secretary Jay Carney.
The world's most powerful political leader, U.S. President Obama meets Pope Francis, the most powerful religious leader with a big smile as they encounter each other for the first time. The last time the President has been to Vatican was with his family when they met the pope's predecessor, pope Benedict XVI on 2009. As U.S. President Obama meets Pope Francis, according to the CNN report, the goal of the said meeting is to focus on the areas wherein both men agrees and tread grounds where they differ.
Before the two finally met each other, Pope Francis was invited by House Speaker john Boehner earlier this month to address a joint session in Congress. House Speaker Boehner has extended the formal invitation to the Pope on March 13 in a letter to Vatican, on the first anniversary of the pope's papacy saying that the Holy Father has awakened the hearts in every continent.
President Obama and Pope Francis' meeting took place two days after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the mandate of contraception in the President's signature reform law. Such law exempts from the requirement but required nonprofit religion affiliated groups to provide contraception coverage to their employees.
Moreover, the U. S. President who admired the leadership of Pope Francis has brought a gift for him. As president Obama meets Pope Francis, he presented him a custom-made seed chest with a variety of fruits and vegetable seed used in the White House Garden. Meanwhile, the pope presented U.S. President Obama a plaque which the president said he would treasure.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
