ROME — Affairs of state and more personal ones mixed to bring Italy and France a little closer as President Nicolas Sarkozy of France arrived here on Thursday for his first official visit. For the official part, Mr. Sarkozy, a Roman Catholic but twice divorced, met with Pope Benedict XVI and with Italian and Spanish leaders.

But buzzing in the background, unavoidably, was the French president’s love life, relevant to Italians since last weekend, when he was photographed at Disneyland Paris with Carla Bruni, the Italian singer and former supermodel.

Any hopes that Mr. Sarkozy might accompany Ms. Bruni, an heiress from Turin who grew up in France, back to her native country for a coming out of sorts were dashed even before he arrived.

“Out of the question,” Ms. Bruni was quoted as saying in several Italian newspapers on Thursday. Mr. Sarkozy and his wife, Cécilia, announced their divorce in October after 11 years of marriage.

Still, in this city where world leaders come and go without much notice, Mr. Sarkozy, a conservative elected in May, was mobbed by cameras, and love was not completely beside the point.

“I love Italy,” he told reporters, as he left after his lunch in Piazza del Popolo. “I have always loved it. We are in Rome, and the sky is blue.”

Mr. Sarkozy began his day at the Vatican for a visit with Benedict. He asked the pope where he had learned his “remarkable” French.

“At school,” the pope said in a brief moment open to reporters before the two spoke privately for 25 minutes, without interpreters.

A Vatican statement described the meeting as cordial, touching on “the future of Europe,” the Middle East, problems in Africa and unspecified “hostage dramas.” France has recently been working to free Ingrid Betancourt, a French-Colombian politician held by Colombian rebels for nearly six years.

Mr. Sarkozy extended a formal invitation for Benedict to visit the shrine to the Virgin Mary in Lourdes next year.

In the evening, Mr. Sarkozy was named canon of the Basilica of St. John, the cathedral of Rome, an honor bestowed on French leaders since the 15th century. At the cathedral, Mr. Sarkozy, who has praised the role of spirituality in public life, spoke of the importance of the church as well as “other great religious and spiritual movements to enlighten our choices and build our future.”

On a continent where public officials speak of religion far less openly than in America, he also said he agreed with Benedict that Europe could not ignore its Christian roots. To do so, he said, “commits a crime against its culture.” But he also underscored the importance of a secular state, which he described as “the freedom to believe or not, to practice a religion and change your faith.”

Later, he met with President Giorgio Napolitano of Italy, then with two more left-leaning leaders, Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy and Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain, to discuss a proposed Mediterranean union, aimed at closer ties through trade and educational exchanges between Europe and poorer northern African nations.

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company