Obama, Pope Francis hold first meeting

President Barack Obama held a nearly hourlong meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, his first with the pontiff.

The two agreed on the "common commitment" to eradicate human trafficking. They also discussed immigration reform and the Roman Catholic Church's objection to a contraception requirement under the Affordable Care Act, the Vatican said.

The issue has dented the relationship between the Obama administration and the Catholic Church. And Vatican officials said Obama would not leave without hearing the pope's opposition to his health care law and its mandates for contraception coverage. The Supreme Court this week seemed divided when hearing arguments in a case in which companies argued that they could object to certain types of contraception coverage based on religious beliefs.

Although Obama and the Catholic Church remain deeply split over abortion and contraception, the president is said to consider the pontiff a kindred spirit on issues of economic inequality, and their private meeting in the papal library ran longer than scheduled. 

After they emerged to cameras, Francis presented Obama with a copy of his papal mission statement decrying a global economic system that excludes the poor. Obama said he would keep it in the Oval Office.

Obama gave the pope a custom-made seed chest featuring a variety of fruit and vegetable seeds used in the White House garden. The chest is made from leather and reclaimed wood from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Baltimore, which is one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals built in the U.S.

"If you have a chance to come to the White House, we can show you our garden as well," Obama said. The pope responded, "Why not," in Spanish. The president later joked that there is more pageantry surrounding a Vatican visit than at the White House. "His Holiness is probably the only person who has to put up with more protocol than me," he said.

Apart from the symbolic seeds donated to the pope on Thursday, the White House said seeds would be donated in the U.S. that will yield several tons of produce to a charity of Pope Francis' choosing. 

It is likely that the pope will travel to the U.S. in September 2015 for the church's World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. Popes have attended these family celebrations five of the past seven times they have been held, and Francis has put family issues at the forefront of his agenda.

The Vatican has not confirmed the trip and likely will not do so until a few months before the event.

As Obama departed, he said to the pope, "Muchas gracias." Then in English he added, "Please pray for me and my family." It was an echo of how Francis usually ends his meetings, asking for people to pray for him. 

After leaving the Vatican at midday, Obama made his way to Rome's Quirinal Palace for meetings and a working lunch with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

Obama is the ninth U.S. president to make an official visit to the Vatican. His audience marks a change of pace for the president, who has devoted the past three days of a weeklong, four-country trip to securing European unity against Russia's aggressive posture toward Ukraine. 

Wire services