Photos: Popes and US presidents
Pope Francis stands with President Donald Trump and his family during a private audience at the Vatican in 2017. Joining the President were his wife, Melania, and his daughter Ivanka.
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In pictures: Popes and US presidents

Updated 1806 GMT (0206 HKT) October 27, 2021

Pope Francis stands with President Donald Trump and his family during a private audience at the Vatican in 2017. Joining the President were his wife, Melania, and his daughter Ivanka.
Evan Vucci/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

Every US president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has had a formal audience with the Pope.

A couple of them — Barack Obama and George W. Bush — have met with two different Popes.

Joe Biden, a devout lifelong Catholic, will become the latest president to meet the Pope when he visits the Vatican on Friday. Biden often wears his late son Beau's rosary on his wrist, and he frequently speaks about the important role that his faith plays in his life.

Pope Francis and President Barack Obama exchange gifts during a private audience at the Vatican in 2014.
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Obama and his wife, Michelle, meet with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in 2009. Benedict resigned as Pope in 2013.
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During a trip to the Vatican in 2007, President George W. Bush gives Pope Benedict XVI a walking stick inscribed with the Ten Commandments. The stick was made by a formerly homeless man in Texas. Bush met with popes a record six times while he was in office.
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Bush presents Pope John Paul II with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the Vatican in 2004.
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President Bill Clinton stands by as Pope John Paul II speaks at a news conference in Denver in 1993.
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Pope John Paul II presents first lady Barbara Bush with a Vatican Medal as President George H.W. Bush looks at his medal during a ceremony at the Vatican in 1989.
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President Ronald Reagan meets with Pope John Paul II at the airport in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1984. The Pope was making a layover on his way to South Korea, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Thailand. Reagan was on his way home from China.
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President Jimmy Carter watches Pope John Paul II sign the White House guest book in 1979. He was the first Pope to visit the White House.
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President Gerald Ford and first lady Betty Ford visit Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in 1975.
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President Richard Nixon meets with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in 1970.
National Archives
In 1965, Pope Paul VI became the first Pope to visit the United States. He met with President Lyndon B. Johnson and addressed the United Nations in a plea for world peace.
AP
President John F. Kennedy talks with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in 1963. Kennedy, who was the first Catholic president, met with the pontiff shortly after his coronation.
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower, third from left, meets with Pope John XXIII at the Vatican in 1959. Eisenhower was actually the second president to meet the Pope. Woodrow Wilson was the first in 1919, meeting Pope Benedict XV.
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