Pope Francis met this Friday with Salvadoran President-Elect, Salvador Sanchez Ceren at the Vatican in Rome, in a historical visit in which the ex-guerrilla commander thanked the Pontif for his efforts to the beatification of San Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero.
The audience, at the Pontif ‘s Private Library at the Vatican Papal Palaces, lasted for about 30 minutes, after which the President-Elect said he was » very happy to meet with a Pope so loved by the Salvadoran people .» Sanchez Ceren asked the Pope’s blessing for his presidency, which begins June 1, 2014.
The President-Elect kissed the Pope’s ring and reiterated that he was «very happy to be for the first time in the Vatican with the Pope, to whom he gave a painting of the figure of Archbishop Romero, painted by famous artist Joshua Villalta .
The Pope, meanwhile, gave Sanchez Ceren a medallion of a saint and document of the V General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM ) in Aparecida, Brazil, in 2007. At parting, Francisco wished a speedy recovery of Margarita Villalta, Sanchez Ceren’s wife, who came to the Vatican walking with a cane due to a surgery practiced on her left leg.
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