Vatican: Pen for François Fillon

On the occasion of the canonization of Jeanne Jugan, the founder of the Little Sisters of the Poor (1792-1879), the French Prime Minister François Fillon had an audience with Benedict XVI, who presented him, during the traditional exchange of gifts, with a carved wooden pen representing a column of the baldachino of St. Peter’s. “This is for signing your documents,” said the Pope in French. “Documents of which you approve,” replied François Fillon, who offered the Sovereign Pontiff two discs of Gregorian chant from the abbey of Solesmes and two volumes of Stendhal’s Travels in Italy, illustrated with Romantic paintings.
During the evening of October 10, François Fillon inaugurated the Saint-Louis-de-France Cultural Center in Rome, placed under the responsibility of the French Ambassador to the Holy See. He then presented to the secretary of the Holy See for relations with States, the French prelate Dominique Mamberti, the insignia of the Commander of the Legion of Honor. During the dinner, in the presence of many French cardinals, the leader of the French government evoked the “precious” secularity of France, a secularity “founded on respect”.
(Sources: Le Figaro / Apic )