Obama Will Meet With Pope

President Obama, who has taken to citing Pope Francis as his rhetorical ally in his campaign to combat inequality in incomes and opportunity, will meet with the pontiff in March during a European trip, the White House announced on Tuesday.

Mr. Obama will travel to the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy from March 24 to March 27 for annual diplomatic meetings on the global economy and nuclear security. His last stop will be Vatican City, a visit that will come just after the first anniversary of Francis’ selection as leader of the world’s Roman Catholics.

“The president looks forward to discussing with Pope Francis their shared commitment to fighting poverty and growing inequality,” Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said in a statement.

Several times in recent months Mr. Obama has approvingly cited the pope’s comments and writings. In December, in an address on economic inequality at a Washington community center, the president quoted directly from a papal letter to the church’s members: “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?”

Before that, in an October television interview, Mr. Obama volunteered that he had been “hugely impressed” with the pope’s early actions and statements, saying they showed an “incredible sense of empathy to the least of these, to the poor.”

But Mr. Obama, a Protestant who occasionally attends an Episcopal church near the White House and sometimes other churches throughout Washington, has had his differences with Catholic leaders in the United States. While Catholic groups were helpful to passing his Affordable Care Act in 2010, bishops and an order of nuns have fought the administration over provisions and regulations that require employers â€" including some Catholic institutions, but not churches â€" to provide contraception coverage as part of insurance policies for their employees.

On his trip to Europe, Mr. Obama will spend the first two days in the Netherlands, whose government is hosting the Nuclear Security Summit, to discuss ongoing efforts to secure nuclear materials that could be used for weapons. Then, in Brussels, he will attend the United States-European Union summit with presidents of the E.U. member nations, and also meet with Belgian officials and the secretary general of NATO.

In Italy, he will meet with the president and prime minister in Rome before meeting Pope Francis.