Donald Trump meets Pope Francis for first time in Vatican City

Donald Trump met Pope Francis for the first time today on the latest leg of the president’s maiden foreign tour.

Mr Trump held a private 30-minute meeting at the Vatican with the pontiff that was laden with religious symbolism and ancient protocol.

The president appeared to be moved by the historic occasion, telling the Pope he “won’t forget what you said”.

Details of their conversation were not released, but Pope Francis has been sharply critical of Mr Trump’s campaign pledges to build a wall on the Mexican border and to ban travellers from mainly Muslim countries.

The president, who was accompanied by his wife Melania and several aides, greeted Francis in a room on the second floor of the Apostolic Palace.

The men shook hands and Mr Trump was heard thanking the Pope, saying it was “a great honour” to be there.

They posed for photographs and then sat down at the papal desk, the Pope unsmiling, as their private meeting began. It ended half an hour later when Francis rang the bell in his private study.

The pontiff was then introduced to members of Mr Trump’s delegation, including Melania, his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as aides Hope Hicks and Dan Scavino.

As is tradition, the Pope and president then exchanged gifts. The Pope gave the president copies of his three main teaching documents, as he typically does for visiting heads of state. The Pope’s gifts to Mr Trump also included a medal by a Roman artist depicting an olive, a symbol of peace.

The president responded: “We can use peace.”

Mr Trump said his gift for Francis, wrapped in a big blue box, was “books from Martin Luther King. I think you’ll enjoy them. I hope you do”. The president is midway through his nine-day maiden international trip. Tonight he flies to Brussels for what could potentially be frosty meetings with EU and Nato leaders.

Meanwhile at home he continues to be dogged by the ongoing investigations into his alleged ties with Russia.

Mr Trump has reportedly retained a lawyer amid growing scrutiny over his election campaign’s alleged links with Moscow. Unable to face down the snowballing probes into the so-called “Russia-gate” scandal, he has asked a trusted lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, to represent his interests.

The president has repeatedly insisted that he did nothing improper and has said he has been informed he is not under investigation.

Mr Kasowitz, a partner at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman in New York, has known Mr Trump for decades and represented him in several high-profile cases, including on his divorce records, property deals and allegations of fraud at Trump University.