President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama had their first audience with Pope Benedict XVI today.

The New York Times

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"The Pictures say it all."

Daily News - President Obama, Pope Benedict XVI meet for first time in Rome

BY MICHAEL SAUL 
DAILY NEWS POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT - Updated Friday, July 10th 2009, 10:08 AM

A beaming President Obama met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican Friday, saying it was a "great honor" to meet the pontiff. Read more:Daily News Photo Ghanbari/AP

President Obama Meets Pope Benedict XVI

By Frank James

President Barack Obama ended his visit to Italy today by meeting with Pope Benedict XVI today, the first time the two men had met.

Here's a report from NPR's Sylvia Poggiolo:

The pictures speak the loudest - the tall, young new American president - smiling broadly and very visibly at ease -standing alongside the stooped-back, elderly pontiff wearing ornate lace and satin vestments.

Mr. Obama shook the pope's hand, and said it was a great honor to meet him.

Then, in the pope's library, sitting at a large desk in his private study, the pope was heard asking about the G-8 summit - reporters were then escorted from the room. Read more - NPR - Photo - President Barack Obama with Pope Benedict XVI and First Lady Michelle Obama at the Vatican. AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari

CITTA' DEL VATICANO - E' durato quaranta minuti il colloquio tra Barack Obama e Papa Benedetto XVI. "Santità, è un grande onore per me": così ha esordito il capo della Casa Bianca, emozionato ma anche a suo agio nella biblioteca vaticana dove, per la prima volta da quando è diventato presidente, ha incontrato il Pontefice. Obama ha portato in dono una stola liturgica appartenuta al primo vescovo americano diventato santo, Giovanni Nepomuceno Neumann, ricevendo da Ratzinger una copia autografata dell'enciclica Caritas in veritate e anche, non a caso, il testo dell'istruzione della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede Dignitatis personae sulla bioetica. Read more