Tony Blair met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican this morning for the last time in his capacity as prime minister.

After the Pope welcomed Mr Blair into his private study, the prime minister told him he had just flown in from the European Union summit in Brussels where European leaders reached agreement on a deal last night.

"I heard it was very successful," the Pope told Mr Blair.

"Yes, but it was a very long night. We finished up at 5.30 in the morning," the prime minister said.

The two men met privately for 25 minutes and then were joined for further talks by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.

A Vatican source later told The Sunday Times that he could not recall a similar occasion in living memory when a cardinal had joined a prime minister or head of state during his private audience with the pope.

“It’s a sign of particular attention by the Holy Father to the prime minister and the cardinal”, Monsignor Georg Ganswein, the pope’s private secretary told The Sunday Times.

When the three leaders had finished their private conversations, journalists were allowed back in and Mr Blair presented his delegation to the pontiff, including his wife, Cherie.

Dressed in a two piece black-suit, with white buttons, and wearing a large black mantilla, she kissed the pope’s ring before taking her place on his left.

The Blairs gave the Pope a frame containing three period photographs of a famous British convert to Catholicism, Cardinal John Henry Newman, who died in 1890.

The Vatican stop on Blair's farewell tour fuelled rumours that he, too, plans to convert to Catholicism, but a Vatican statement made no mention of the conversion rumours and the press office called the audience a normal meeting between the pope and a government leader

At Blair’s request, no other media were present except for five journalists, including this writer. “It seems the Prime Minister didn’t want to turn this visit into a spectacle; it was an official visit, but it also has a very personal dimension to it”, a Vatican source said.

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