This isn’t really a foreign policy stop

“This isn’t really a foreign policy stop — so, in that sense, it’s very important to the president,” Shapiro said.
Obama came to office promising to change the world’s perception of the United States, emphasizing alliances over unilateral action, diplomacy over military
measures and a “new beginning” with Islam after years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“I do think that there is a potential convergence between what policymakers need to be thinking about and what he’s talking about,” Obama said at the news
conference, referring to the pope. “He’s hopefully creating an environment in which those of us who care about this are able to talk about it more
effectively. And we are in many ways following not just his lead but the teachings of Jesus Christ and other religions that care deeply about the least”
among us.
The pope, too, has attempted in his first year to recast the image of the Catholic Church as an institution close to its adherents. He has struck a more
tolerant tone on homosexuality, condemned the lavish lifestyles of some church figures, and personally ministered to the poor, the imprisoned and others on
society’s growing margins.
Obama has praised such commitment.
But Francis has significant political disagreements with the president, including on immigration, contraception requirements in the Affordable Care Act and
gay marriage.
Obama presented the pope with what the White House described as “a custom-made seed chest featuring a variety of fruit and vegetable seeds used in the White
House Garden.” The gift echoed the pope’s announcement this month that he would open the gardens of the papal summer residence, the Apostolic Palace of
Castel Gandolfo, to the public.
The White House said the chest is made from “American leather, and features reclaimed wood from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, which is one of the oldest Catholic cathedrals built in the United States.” It said seeds will also be donated, “to yield several tons
of produce, to a charity of the pope’s choosing.”
Obama received a copy of Francis’s exhortation, the Joy of the Gospel, an extended essay in which he calls for a church that “is poor and for the poor.”
Obama said he is likely to read it “when I’m deeply frustrated. I’m sure it will give me strength and calm me down.”