Merkel meets pope as parties at home try to form government

ROME (AP) — Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Thursday with Pope Francis and toured a Jesuit-run child protection center, while back home three German parties held talks on forming a new government without her center-right bloc. Merkel told reporters she talked politics, climate change and clergy sex abuse during the visit to the Vatican and a meeting at the Pontifical Gregorian University’s academic program on child protection and safe environments.