Bill O'Reilly, a Catholic, who last year challenged the pope’s views on immigration and promised to convince him of the need for reform, shook hands briefly with the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics at the Vatican.

The Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, told America that no official request for an audience had arrived at the Vatican from the U.S. president as of late Wednesday evening, April 19.

Pope Francis will declare the sainthood of Blessed Jacinta Marto and Blessed Francisco Marto, two of the shepherd children who saw Mary in Fatima, Portugal, during his visit to the site of the apparitions May 13.

Pope Benedict said his heart was filled with gratitude "for the 90 years the good Lord has given me. There have been trying and difficult times, but he always guided me and pulled me through."

This gesture, he continued, is meant to "sow love among us" and that the faithful, even those in prison, can imitate Christ in the same manner.

It is the third Holy Thursday that Francis has spent at a detention center, part of his longstanding emphasis on ministering to prisoners.