France's Macron talks war, peace and basketball with Pope Leo

Pope Leo XIV and French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the need for dialogue in the Middle East in their first meeting Friday at the Vatican, while also finding time to chat about basketball.

Shortly after their talks, the US-born pontiff once more railed against the "senseless and inhuman violence" spreading across the Holy Land -- while warning that Christians cannot stand with those who "today drop bombs".

The US-Israeli war on Iran and its spillover into the wider region dominated Macron's talks with Pope Leo, with both emphasising the need for de-escalation and the inclusion of Lebanon in the ceasefire, a French presidential source said.

After the meeting, Macron said he was "very happy" to meet the pontiff, who became head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics last May.

"We share the same conviction -- in the face of the world's fractures, action for peace is a duty and a requirement," Macron wrote on X.

In a statement, the Vatican said Leo and his top officials had discussed with Macron "conflicts around the world, expressing hope that peaceful coexistence can be re-established through dialogue and negotiation".

There were also lighter moments, with Vatican footage showing Macron presenting the pope with a jersey signed by members of the French national basketball team.

Chicago-born Leo, the first American pope, is a sports fan, enjoying baseball and basketball, while he swims and plays tennis regularly at the papal out-of-town residence, Castel Gandolfo.

- US criticism -

Both Macron and Pope Leo have distanced themselves from the bellicose rhetoric of US President Donald Trump over the war.

After his audience with Macron, the pope met with bishops from the Chaldean Church of Baghdad, whom he called "signs of hope in a world marked by senseless and inhuman violence". 

"Driven by greed and hatred", the violence was "spreading with ferocity... in the sacred places of the Christian East," he said.

"Whoever is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, never stands on the side of those who yesterday wielded the sword and today drop bombs," Leo told them. 

Earlier this week, Leo had condemned as "unacceptable" Trump's threats to Iran's civilian population, although he did not mention the president by name.

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Macron has also been critical, saying there was "too much talk, and it's all over the place".

Both welcomed the US-Iranian ceasefire and have urged a diplomatic solution to the war, which has roiled the global economy.

It was not the first time that Leo has criticised the government of his native country, after denouncing its treatment of migrants as "inhuman".

The Vatican on Friday denied a media report that a top Pentagon official gave the Holy See's envoy to the United States a "bitter lecture" in January following comments by Leo seen as critical of Trump.

The story "does not correspond to the truth in any way", spokesman Matteo Bruni said, the day after the Pentagon dismissed the account as "highly exaggerated and distorted".

In his January speech, Leo did not name Trump but lamented that dialogue was being replaced by "diplomacy based on force", and that war was "back in vogue".

- Come to France -

Macron is not a practising Catholic but had a good relationship with Pope Francis, Leo's predecessor, meeting him three times and discussing with him both global crises and spirituality.

Their relationship also had its tensions, with the late Argentine criticising the inclusion of abortion in the French constitution, and Macron's proposal to introduce assisted dying in France.

Vatican footage showed Macron and Leo -- a more reserved character than Francis --  greeting each other formally in their first meeting, and speaking English.

According to a French presidential source, during their conversation Macron invited Leo to France, a visit that could possibly take place in September.

Pope Francis never made a state visit to France and declined to attend the opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in 2024, five years after its devastation by fire.

Friday's meeting at the Vatican comes three days before Pope Leo visits the former French colony of Algeria, the first trip there by a pontiff.

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