Stephen Harper and family meet with Pope at Vatican

ROME - Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his family wrapped up a four-day trip to Italy on Saturday with an audience at the Vatican with Pope Benedict.
  
Harper, coming off the Group of Eight summit in nearby L'Aquila, was the fifth national leader to meet the Pope, following leaders of the United States, Japan, Korea and Australia.

The prime minister and the Pope opened their meeting with a brief French language exchange on the G8 summit -- for the cameras -- then conversed privately for 20 minutes.

Afterwards, they were joined by Laureen Harper and the Harper children, Ben and Rachel, for an exchange of gifts.

Harper presented a pink glass vase with an abstract gold leaf motif created by glassblower Andrew Kuntz at Toronto's Sheridan College. In return, the prime minister received a glass mosaic fountain pen crafted at a Vatican workshop.

The pen is a reproduction of one of the four pillars of St. Peter's Basilica.

The meeting took place in the library of the Apostolical palace, where the pontiff and the Vatican's secretary of state work and live.

Harper also met with Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, then toured the basilica.

The visit comes a week after the prime minister accepted communion at a Catholic service -- though Harper is a practising evangelical Protestant -- causing controversy in some circles.

The Prime Minister's Office did not hold a briefing with reporters after the meeting, but did issue a terse readout and a news release.

"It was an honour to meet Pope Benedict and hear his perspective on a number of important issues, including human rights and an ethical response to the global economic crisis," Harper said in the release.

"I expressed my deep appreciation for the Holy Father's moral and humanitarian leadership as an advocate of human dignity, peace and religious liberty, and for the spiritual leadership he provides to Catholics in Canada and throughout the world."

The readout said Harper and the Pope discussed human rights, religious freedoms and "a range of international issues," including Africa and climate change.