During their first encounter in Vatican City on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented Pope Francis with a specially-made silver candelabra and a book about India's climate measures.
Foreign Secretary Harsh V Shringla said the meeting was pleasant and they covered a variety of issues.
Since Francis' election as Pope in 2013, Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to meet him. This was the first time in more than two decades that an Indian Prime Minister met with the Pope. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the late Prime Minister of India, last visited the Vatican in June 2000, where he met the then-Pope, His Holiness John Paul II.
