Pope prayed with Bush 'for family': Vatican spokesman

WASHINGTON - Pope Benedict XVI prayed "for family" with US President George W. Bush and his wife Laura Bush during the pontiff's historic White House visit on Wednesday, the Vatican's spokesman said.

"The pope prayed for family with President Bush and his spouse" in the Oval Office, spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters.

Bush treated the pope, who turned 81 on Wednesday, to music and a 21-gun salute before a crowd of some 13,500 people on the White House's South Lawn before the two heads of state met privately.

The two leaders discussed a wide-range of issues during their Oval Office meeting including "the defense and promotion of life, matrimony and the family," the White House and Holy See said in a joint statement.

Bush, a devout Protestant Christian, and the pope see eye to eye on key social issues as both are staunch opponents of same-sex marriage, abortion and embryonic stem-cell research.

Benedict XVI was just the second pope to visit the White House and the first to come here in 29 years.

nou/lt/mlm

04/17/2008 00:06 GMT