Pope receives Macron

VATICAN CITY: French President Emmanuel Macron made his first official visit to the Vatican on Tuesday where he held an unusually long meeting with Pope Francis.

The tete-a-tete between the Argentine pontiff and Macron in the Vatican’s ornate library lasted 57 minutes -- the longest between Francis and a head of state. Past talks between the pope and a president have never exceeded 50 minutes.

Francis spoke with former US president Barack Obama for 50 minutes and with his successor Donald Trump for 30 minutes. Faith and the sensitive subject of the role of the church in French society were thought to be among the topics for discussion, as was the thorny issue of migration, currently casting deep divisions within the European Union.

Macron made the visit after deciding to accept being made an honorary canon of St John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, a tradition dating back to the 15th century when the French state and church were indistinguishable.