Bush meets the Pope

U.S. President George W. Bush met Pope Benedict at the Vatican on Friday before resuming his campaign to rally European support for more sanctions against Iran.

Bush was driven into the idyllic Vatican Gardens where, as birds chirped, the Pope welcomed him before the two entered a restored medieval tower for formal private talks.

"Such an honour, such an honour," Bush said to the Pope.

Bush was heard discussing his recent visit to the Pope's native Germany as the pair took an elevator to an upper floor of St John's Tower for talks which lasted about half an hour.

The meeting in the tower, a walk in the Vatican Gardens and a performance by the Sistine Choir were a break with normal protocol designed to repay Bush for the warm White House lawn reception the Pope got in April on his 81st birthday.

It was the first time that a meeting with a head of state at the Vatican was not held in the Pope's private study.

Security around the Holy See was tight, with police lining the streets, anti-terrorist sharpshooters in nearby buildings and even secondary streets closed off in case Bush had to leave the area in an emergency via an alternative route.

The head of Vatican security, Domenico Giani, told the Holy See's newspaper this week that two new permanent anti-terrorism units had been set up in the mini-state and would be working together with Italian and American security during the visit.

Benedict's predecessor John Paul II had a led a campaign against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 but the president and the pontiff see eye-to-eye on many moral issues, such as abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cell research.

A White House spokeswoman said Bush and Benedict had "established a good relationship" enabling them to talk on a range of issues including AIDS, Africa and combating poverty.

MIDEAST DIPLOMACY

The Roman Catholic leader and the Methodist president prayed together during the U.S. visit and there has been speculation they may do so again.

But La Repubblica newspaper said not everyone in the Vatican was happy to see Benedict giving Bush special treatment. It quoted unnamed monsignors recalling that Bush did not heed the late John Paul's warnings against invading Iraq.

But one Vatican official close to the Pope told Reuters early on Friday: "The Pope is doing this because he is a gentleman. That's the long and short of it".

Condemned by many Europeans for the war in Iraq, Bush is seeking a diplomatic solution to a standoff with Tehran over its nuclear energy programme while also making it clear that military options remain on the table.

Later on Friday in Paris, Bush will address the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, where he is expected to renew his call to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear bomb and seek support for democracy in the Middle East.

To rally support for his Iran policy, Bush will see his close friend French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday and Saturday, followed by a stopover in London on Sunday and Monday where he will confer with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

"All of us ... need to be sending the same message to the Iranians, which is verifiably suspend your enrichment program or else you will face further sanctions and further isolation," Bush said after meeting Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi.