Pope Francis on Thursday told the US House of Representatives speaker John Boehner he liked his tie at their meeting in Washington ahead of his address to the US Congress - the first by a pontiff.
Seated beside Boehner in a leather armchair in his office, Francis complimented the Republican on the colour of tie saying: "Green in the colour of hope."
“We’ll need a lot of hope today,” Boehner quipped.
Francis is on the second of a five-day visit to the United States.
The pope's US visit will also include stops in New York and Philadelphia, where all 10,000 tickets to an open-air mass are already taken.
Francis is due address the United Nations in New York on Friday.
