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US First Lady Laura Bush had a 15-minute private audience with Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday at the start of a three-day visit to Italy.
Bush, dressed in a black suit with a black lace mantilla on her head, was accompanied by one of her twin daughters, Barbara, and the US ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Rooney, for the private visit to the Vatican.
In the traditional exchange of gifts, Laura Bush gave the pope a large bowl while the pope reciprocated with medals and a rosary.
The wife of US President George W. Bush arrived in Italy late Wednesday as head of the US delegation to the Winter Olympic Games in Turin.
After the visit, the US delegation headed to a luncheon with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a close friend of the Bush family, at a Renaissance palace on the outskirts of Rome.
The US delegation will fly to Turin on Friday.
Vatican Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo said the Vatican shared common ground with the Bush administration on many issues, including "the family, marriage, abortion and safe sex," although he noted differences over "aspects of its policies" like the decision to go to war in Iraq.
"We have to be grateful to the United States," said Trujillo, the head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, praising Bush's recent nomination of two Catholic judges to the US Supreme Court.
He made the comments in an interview with Italian Catholic monthly "30 Giorni".
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AFP 091201 GMT 02 06
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