L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 27, 2016
The meeting of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani with Pope Francis was featured on Wednesday’s Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, with the front-page headline: “A Political Solution For The Middle East.”
At the 40-minute meeting at the Vatican, the first visit between a pope and Iranian president since 1999, Francis and Rouhani discussed the fight against terrorism, interreligious dialogue and arms trafficking.
According to Radio Vaticana, Rouhani gave the pope a hand-made rug from the Iranian holy city of Qom and a book with miniatures. The pope then gave the Iranian leader a medal depicting St. Martin cutting his cloak in two to give one half to a poor man; he also gave Rouhani a copy of his latest encyclical Laudato Si.
At the end of his visit to the Holy See, Rouhani asked the pontiff: “Pray for me.”
The Iranian leader is on a four-day visit to Italy and France, which is mostly focused on reestablishing economic ties between Iran and Europe as Western sanctions come to an end.