--- title: Pope Francis and Emmanuel Macron Hug After Long Meeting description: Pope Francis and French President Emmanuel Macron shared an affectionate embrace following a meeting that went overtime at the Vatican. canonical: https://time.com/5322140/pope-francis-emmanuel-macron-hug-meeting/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-26T15:03:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:10.695Z og:title: The Pope and Emmanuel Macron Hug It Out After Long Meeting og:description: The two leaders shared an affectionate embrace og:url: https://time.com/5322140/pope-francis-emmanuel-macron-hug-meeting/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdd45fc5ba395dd4/698933e5ab6d772dfd6b3080/pope-francis-emmanuel-macron.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Pope Francis meets with French President Emmanuel Macron og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Pope and Emmanuel Macron Hug It Out After Long Meeting twitter:description: The two leaders shared an affectionate embrace twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdd45fc5ba395dd4/698933e5ab6d772dfd6b3080/pope-francis-emmanuel-macron.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Pope and Emmanuel Macron Hug it Out in Photo After Remarkably Long Meeting > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=8f85b639-0b5b-4148-ab4e-a80e6e449038&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jun 26, 2018 3:03 PM UTC  Pope Francis meets with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Apostolic Palace on June 26, 2018 in Vatican City, Vatican. Pope Francis meets with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Apostolic Palace on June 26, 2018 in Vatican City, Vatican. Franco Origlia/Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jun 26, 2018 3:03 PM UTC [Pope Francis](http://time.com/5316987/pope-francis-trump-immigration-policy/) and [French President Emmanuel Macron](http://time.com/5315791/emmanuel-macron-scolds-french-teen-mr-president/) shared an affectionate embrace following a [Tuesday morning meeting](http://time.com/5322032/emmanuel-macron-pope-francis-meeting/) that went overtime at the Vatican. After speaking privately for nearly an hour—about twice as long as Francis usually spends with heads of state—in the pope’s library in the Apostolic Palace, Macron was photographed putting a hand around Francis’ shoulder and kissing him on both cheeks. The Pope reciprocated by warmly gripping Macron’s arm.  Pope Francis meets with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Apostolic Palace on June 26, 2018 in Vatican City, Vatican. Franco Origlia/Getty Images The two leaders also exchanged gifts, with Macron giving the pope a rare copy of Georges Bernanos’ 1936 book _Diary of a Country Priest_ while Francis presented the French president with a medal depicting St. Martin of Tours, who gave his cloak to a poor man.  Pope Francis exchanges gifts with French President Emmanuel Macron during an audience at the Apostolic Palace on June 26, 2018 in Vatican City, Vatican. Franco Origlia/Getty Images A Vatican statement said the two discussed, “protection of the environment, migration, and multilateral commitment to conflict prevention and resolution, especially in relation to disarmament,” according to [Reuters](https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-pope-macron-meeting/frances-macron-and-pope-francis-hold-unusually-long-meeting-idUKKBN1JM1GW). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5322140/pope-francis-emmanuel-macron-hug-meeting/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5322140/pope-francis-emmanuel-macron-hug-meeting/"},"headline":"The Pope and Emmanuel Macron Hug it Out in Photo After Remarkably Long Meeting","datePublished":"2018-06-26T15:03:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:44:10.695Z","description":"The two leaders shared an affectionate embrace","url":"https://time.com/5322140/pope-francis-emmanuel-macron-hug-meeting/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Pope Francis","Emmanuel Macron"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdd45fc5ba395dd4/698933e5ab6d772dfd6b3080/pope-francis-emmanuel-macron.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfdd45fc5ba395dd4/698933e5ab6d772dfd6b3080/pope-francis-emmanuel-macron.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pope Francis meets with French President Emmanuel Macron","caption":"Pope Francis meets with French President Emmanuel Macron","creditText":"Franco Origlia/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5322140/pope-francis-emmanuel-macron-hug-meeting/","name":"The Pope and Emmanuel Macron Hug it Out in Photo After Remarkably Long Meeting"}}]}] ```