Obama arrives at Vatican for first meeting with pope (1st Lead)

Jul 10, 2009, 14:31 GMT

Vatican City - US President Barack Obama arrived Friday in the Vatican and began his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.

The spiritual leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics received Obama, a Protestant Christian, in the private papal library situated in the tiny city-state's Apostolic Palace.

The two posed briefly for photographers before beginning their private meeting.

The afternoon talks started shortly after Obama flew in to Rome by helicopter from the central Italian city of L'Aquila where, together leaders of the world's most advanced and emerging nations, he attended the concluding sessions of a three-day long Group of Eight (G8) summit.

Obama was expected to brief the pontiff on some of the summit's results, including commitments on fighting poverty, climate change and food security - concerns highlighted by Benedict in his new encyclical, Charity in Truth, which was published on Tuesday.

Obama's wife, Michelle, and their two daughters, Malia and Sasha, were also scheduled to meet the pontiff at the end of his private audience with the US President.

Earlier Friday, the US First Lady and her children were taken on a tour of some of Vatican's most famous sites, including St Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel.

As part of tight security measures for the presidential visit, Italian authorities cordoned off roads near Vatican City which is situated near Rome's city centre.

In the late evening, the US presidential family was scheduled to fly to Ghana - since taking office, the first visit to sub-Saharan Africa by Obama, the son of a Kenyan father.