Trinidad and Tobago’s Head of State, President Anthony T.A. Carmona, paid an official visit to Pope Francis at the Vatican on July 6, 2013. One of the gifts from Trinidad and Tobago which President Carmona presented to the Pontiff was a steelpan.

President Anthony Carmona spent five hours at the Vatican in Rome, Italy yesterday with his family.

Carmona left Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday night with his wife, Reema, his two children, his aide-de-camp, an assistant and a security officer.

They arrived in Rome and were officially received at the airport by Vatican officials and the Ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago to the Holy See Margaret Allison King-Rousseau.

A statement from the Apostolic Nunciature in St Clair yesterday said following the receiving ceremony, Carmona and his delegation were escorted by motorcades of Italian police to their hotel in Rome.

Carmona’s itinerary at the Vatican was precisely mapped out, so that at 10 a.m. he and his delegation, escorted by Italian police were accompanied at the border of the Italian and Vatican states (Saint Peter’s Square).

By 10.15 a.m. Vatican police were expected to escort Carmona and the delegation through Vatican City at the Courtyard San Damaso, where they were to receive the official honours by the Swiss Guard and other Vatican authorities.

At 11 a.m. President Carmona was introduced by His Excellency Msgr Gänswein to the Private Studio of Pope Francis for a private meeting, while the delegation stayed in the library with the Chief of Protocol and other Vatican officials.

Pope Francis and Carmona left the private studio of the Pope for the library where Carmona would have presented the members of his family and the delegation to Pope Francis.

Following which there would have been an exchange of gifts.

Carmona and his delegation were expected to return to Vatican City at 2.30 p.m. led by a protocol official to visit the Sistine Chapel, which is a selected section of the Vatican Museum (Raphael’s Rooms) and Saint Peter’s Basilica.

The delegation was scheduled to leave Vatican City at approximately 4 p.m. through the Vatican Gardens.

Photos: President Carmona showing Pope Francis how to play a tenor pan.

Articles:

The Pope, the President and the Pan, Catholic News, http://www.catholicnews-tt.net/joomla/features/4770-the-pope-the-president-and-the-pan-jul-14

President Carmona teaches the Pope to play pan, http://www.tntfinder.com/news/president-carmona-teaches-the-pope-to-play-pan-listing-2423.aspx

Carmona, family visit Vatican, Trinidad Express, http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Carmona-family-visit-Vatican-214503321.html