From the Chicago Tribune:Inside, the pope gave the visiting president a 17th Century lithograph of St. Peter's Square and a gold medallion, and the president gave the pope a walking stick that a homeless man in Dallas had inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The pope also was heard to inquire about the president's recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which they had discussed a defensive missile shield for Europe.
"Sometimes I'm not poetic enough to describe what it's like to be in the presence of the Holy Father,'' Bush, who had visited Pope John Paul II during the president's re-election campaign in 2004, said during an interview with European press before departing for this weeklong tour of Europe.
"It is a moving experience. And I have not been in the presence of this particular Holy Father. Obviously, three visits with the last great man, and I'm looking forward to this,'' Bush said of Benedict XVI. "I'm looking forward to hearing him. He's a good thinker and a smart man. I'll be in a listening mode.''
