Narendra Modi in Rome: What the prime minister can expect when he meets Pope Francis
During his two-day visit, Modi will be visiting Pope Francis at the Vatican, a first since he took office in 2014
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In September 2015, Pope Francis made his way to the United States of America where he was welcomed by then President Barack Obama. This was the pontiff’s first visit to the White House. It was during this visit that the Pope met the world’s most famous dogs — Bo and Sunny in the Oval Office. And the images showed that Pope Francis is indeed a dog person. AFP
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French president Emmanuel Macron made headlines in 2018 when he spent an unusually long time with Pope Francis, discussing migration issues, conflict in the Middle East and the future unity of Europe. Macron’s visit to the Vatican drew particular scrutiny in France, where his courting of Catholic voters had drawn criticism from the secular left. AFP
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This meeting of Pope Francis and Cuba’s Fidel Castro is historic. As The Atlantic had said: When the bishop of Rome hangs out with one of the world’s most famous Communist revolutionaries, what do the two chat about? The two met for about half an hour during Pope Francis’ visit to Cuba in 2015. The two did a book swap, including a bonus CD for Castro. The former Cuban president gave the pope a book by a Brazilian priest called Fidel and Religion. Francis returned the favour with several books by the priest Don Alessandro Pronzato. AFP
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In the summer of 2017, then US president Donald Trump met Pope Francis at the Vatican. The meeting was remembered for the humours exchange between the Pope and First Lady Melania Trump — in which he asked if she fed him a popular kind of Slovenian cake. Later, Trump said, “He is something. We had a fantastic meeting… and it was an honour to be with the pope.” AFP
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President Vladimir Putin met Pope Francis in the Vatican in July 2019. It was reported that the two focused on the situations in Syria, Ukraine, and Venezuela, which Putin ultimately said was “very substantive and interesting.” AFP
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Before leaving office, German chancellor Angela Merkel met Pope Francis at the Vatican. Merkel told reporters she talked politics, climate change and clergy sex abuse during the visit to the Vatican and wrapped up her day with an evening peace prayer at the Colosseum attended by the pope and organised by the Rome-based Sant’Egidio community. AFP
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During his 2019 visit to Tokyo, Japan, Pope Fracis took with him a strong anti-nuclear message. During this visit, he not only met then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, but also visited survivors of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster as well as paid tribute to the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings of 1945. AFP
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