Bush "feels awe" at Pope who urges Middle East fix

President George W. Bush said yesterday he felt "awe" in the presence of Pope Benedict, who urged the US leader to seek "regional and negotiated" solution to Middle East conflicts like Iraq.

"I was talking to a very smart, loving man," Bush said of his first talks with Benedict since he became Pope in 2005. "After six and a half years of being a president... I've been to some unusual places and met some interesting people and I was in awe," Bush told a news conference in Rome. "It was a moving experience for me."

Addressing the 80-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church as "sir", Bush heard the Pope's concerns about the Middle East and the plight of Christians in Iraq and told him of his efforts to combat AIDS and malaria in Africa and hunger and poverty.

He told the Pope before reporters about what he called "the very strong AIDS initiative" at the Group of Eight summit this week which pledged $60 billion to fight diseases ravaging Africa - although much of that was made up of existing pledges. A Vatican statement said Benedict and Bush had discussed the Middle East and the Holy See's "hope for a regional and negotiated solution to the conflicts that afflict that region".

The two men see eye-to-eye on ethical issues like abortion and euthanasia but differ on the war in Iraq, which Benedict's predecessor, John Paul, tried hard to avert. When the Pope mentioned Bush had come from the G8 summit, Bush said: "I did - your old country - and it was successful... A lot of different opinions, but it was good."

Asked if his dialogue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin - closely watched because of a number of sharp disagreements between Russia and the West - had been good, Bush responded with a smile as reporters were being ushered out of the room. "I'll tell you in a minute," he said.