Sanders and his wife, Jane, stayed overnight at the hotel, on the same floor as the pope. Francis noted to reporters that members of the Vatican conference that Sanders had attended also were staying at the hotel.

Jeffrey Sachs, a Sanders foreign policy adviser, said there were no photographs taken of the pope and Sanders together. Sanders' spokesman, Michael Briggs, said Francis was "100 percent correct that this was not a political meeting," thanking the pope's staff making the arrangements. He said Sanders and his wife "were advised the night before to be ready to meet the pope at 6 a.m."