VATICAN CITY (REUTERS) - Pope Francis met US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Saturday morning (April 16) before leaving for a visit to the Greek island of Lesbos, a participant at the meeting said.

Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs told Reuters that the meeting took place in the Vatican guesthouse where the pope lives and where Sanders had spent the night after addressing a Vatican conference on social justice.

The Vatican said before the conference that a meeting had not been planned. Sachs said Sanders, who was accompanied by his wife, and the pope spoke for about five minutes. Sachs, his wife and a Vatican official were also in the room, Sachs said.