Tony Blair's last meeting with Pope as Prime Minister

(June 23, 2007) Outgoing British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, paid a private visit to Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican on Saturday, during which the two discussed among other things, the situation in the Middle East and the future of the European Union. Greeted by the Holy Father, Blair explained that he had just arrived from an EU summit in Brussels. “I heard it was very successful,” Benedict said, and Blair replied saying they had ‘a very long night,’ and finished the summit at 5:30 in the morning,” The two men met privately for 25 minutes and then were joined for further talks by English Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.
In a brief statement after the meeting, the Vatican’s press office said that the Pope and Blair reviewed some of the significant contributions of the British prime minister during his 10 years in office. They also had a frank exchange of views on the present international situation, without ignoring particularly delicate questions, such as the Middle East conflict and the future of the European Union in the aftermath of the EU summit in Brussels.
Blair's wife Cherie, who is a Roman Catholic, joined her husband and Pope Benedict for an exchange of gifts while photographers snapped photos. «I sometimes think that all life is lived on film now,» Blair remarked. He presented the Holy Father with three photos of 19th century English Cardinal John Henry Newman, himself a convert to Catholicism from the Church of England. After the meeting with the Pope, Blair also talked briefly with Vatican Secretary of State, Caridal Tarcisio Bertone and Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti. Tony Blair's meeting with Pope Benedict was the final foreign engagement of his "farewell tour". He is set to leave office on Wednesday.