July 2, 1963 - President Kennedy was received in private audience by Pope Paul VI this morning. The audience for the first Roman Catholic President of the U.S. was conducted with pomp and circumstance. In a brief address of welcome, the Pope sent greetings to the President’s wife and other members of his family and to all citizens of the United States. The Pope indicated that he supported efforts to end racial segregation in the U.S. He said, “We are ever mindful in our prayers of the efforts to insure to all your citizens the equal benefits of citizenship, which have as their foundation the equality of all men because of their dignity as persons and children of God.” Pope Paul met Mr. Kennedy at the door of his private library at the Vatican palace. The President, wearing a dark business suit, neither knelt to the Pope nor kissed his ring. He limited himself to bowing before shaking hands. Catholics usually kneel and kiss the Pope’s ring. However, this is not required of heads of state, who are felt to be visiting the Pope as representatives of their nations and not as individuals. The conversation lasted 40 minutes. An interpreter waited in readiness, but he was not needed. Pope Paul speaks English. The Pope told correspondents accompanying the President on his European trip that “the peace of the world” had been the chief subject of the conversation. Pope Paul recalled that he had met Mr. Kennedy almost a quarter century ago, when the young future President accompanied his parents to Rome for the coronation of Pope Pius XII on March 12, 1939.
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