Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is on a four-day state visit to Italy and France — the first trip of its kind by an Iranian leader in almost 20 years — and one of his first stops on Tuesday was Vatican City, where he had a closed-door meeting with Pope Francis. The European visit was originally planned for November, but rescheduled after the terrorist attack in Paris. Before heading to the Vatican, Rouhani told Italian business leaders that "Iran is the safest and most stable country of the entire region."
Rouhani is trying to capitalize on the nuclear deal to reopen trade relations with Europe, and Italy says it hopes Iran will help negotiate an end to the conflict in Syria. And while it may seem odd for the head of the Roman Catholic Church to meet with the president of the Islamic Republic, the meeting actually highlights "a long-standing relationship between the Vatican and Iran that has grown closer under the current pontificate and could help support efforts for peace in Syria and Iraq," The Wall Street Journal reports. The last time an Iranian president met with a pope was in 1999.
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