German Chancellor Angela Merkel this morning had a 40-minute audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican.

During the exchange of gifts, Merkel gave the Pope a Bach CD and a donation for refugee children.

The Pope in reply gave her a medal of his pontificate and told her he likes to give this to heads of government because it carries the image of St Martin who removed his cloak to give it to the poor.

In giving the heads of government this medal the Pope intends to remind them of their duty to protect the poor.

To this, Chancellor Merkel replied: We will do our best.

There followed an exchange of books. The Pope gave the Chancellor a copy of his encyclical 'Evangelii Gaudium' and the Chancellor expressed surprise her copy was in German, to which the Pope rejoined that was to make it easier for her to read it. The Chancellor said she will do so.

This was the third time Pope and Chancellor have met, the first one being at the Mass for the inauguration of the Pontificate.