In the Garden of the Pope

This mosaic designed by Vatican artists depicts Pope Leo XIII in the papal gardens. The mosaic was sent to Theodore and Edith Roosevelt in 1902 by Pope Leo XIII with the Pope's "expression of his high esteem" for the President and his wife. At the time of the exchange, William Howard Taft, who was the Governor General of the Philippines, was in Rome to negotiate the purchase of church lands in the Philippines by the United States. In return, TR gave the Pope a set of books that he wrote.