U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi met with Pope Francis in a private audience at the Vatican.
As a gift she gave Pope Francis a decorative ceramic bowl with a personal inscription. In return, the Pope gave her a wooden mosaic of farmers tending to the earth.
NANCY PELOSI
'I'll display this with great pride in the speaker's office in the Capitol.'
The Pope also gave them his message of peace, and was quick to follow up with a laugh.
-I signed it personally for you.
-Wow.
-Wow.
Speaker Pelosi then met with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Foreign Minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
She is the third high-level U.S. official to meet with Pope Francis, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Special Climate Envoy John Kerry separately visited the Vatican.
Pelosi was in Rome for a meeting of parliamentary leaders ahead of the COP26 climate summit to be held in Glasgow.
On Twitter she said her audience with Pope Francis was a spiritual, personal, and official honor, and commended the Pope's work on combating climate change and embracing refugees.
JM
