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Queen Elizabeth meets Pope Francis


Queen Elizabeth with Pope Francis

Queen Elizabeth with Pope Francis

Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Prince Philip and Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, met Pope Francis for the first time yesterday, during a one-day visit to Rome. The meeting was described as a private one and formalities were kept to a minimum. The Queen and Prince Philip had tea with the Pope in a suite of rooms in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall. In a break with convention, the Queen did not wear black, or a veil, but instead wore a lilac-coloured spring coat and matching hat.

The Queen gave the Holy Father a hamper of produce from the Royal estates in England and Scotland which included honey from Buckingham Palace gardens, whisky from Balmoral and jams and chutney from Sandringham. Pope Francis is expected to share the hamper with residents at Casa Santa Marta where he lives.

Pope Francis gave the Queen a lapis lazuli orb for baby Prince George. Queen Elizabeth said: "He will be thrilled with it ... when he is a little older."

The visit coincides with the 32nd anniversary of the start of the Falklands War. 649 Argentinians, 255 British troops and three islanders were killed in the 1982 conflict. Speaking to Vatican Radio, Britain's ambassador to the Holy See, Nigel Baker, said: "The Vatican has been clear with us, including in the last week and at a very senior level, that their long-standing position of neutrality on this issue remains in force."

He added that the Queen "will want, I think, to understand from Pope Francis how he sees the role of faith in the world".

Queen Elizabeth II previously visited the Vatican three times during her reign - once to meet John XXIII in 1961 and again in 1980 and 2000 to see John Paul II, whom she also met at Buckingham Palace in 1982. She also met Pope Pius XII in 1951 - a year before she took the throne - and Benedict XVI in Edinburgh when he visited the UK in 2010.

Source: Vatican Radio/ICN

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