As he did in his discussion of the pope's legacy, he later sought to make certain that he had been understood. "There is no doubt in my mind there is a living God," he said. "And no doubt in my mind that the Lord Christ was sent by the Almighty. No doubt in my mind about that.
"Got it? Everybody got it correct?" he asked the reporters, then ended with a definitive "All right."
The president, who held 17 full-dress news conferences at the White House during his first term, rarely speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One. Since his reelection, he has been holding news conferences about once a month. Friday's session in the airborne presidential conference room suggested he was increasingly at ease fielding journalists' questions.
The topics jumped from the events at the Vatican to the pope's legacy, from the Middle East to Bush's Thursday night dinner with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to fluctuating polls on his performance.
He was asked about the complaints by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) that the judiciary had "run amok." Bush did not respond directly but expressed support for an independent judiciary.
The president, who is scheduled to meet with Israel's Sharon at his ranch Monday, reiterated in pointed language his intention to hold Sharon to the "road map" peace plan, which bars additional Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
"What I say publicly, I say privately," Bush said. "And that is the road map has clear obligations on settlements and that we expect the prime minister to adhere to those road map obligations."
Bush was accompanied to Rome by his father and former President Clinton as well as the first lady and other officials.
"It's fun. Oh, it's great," he said of the three-day, three-president road trip. "We share war stories, you know, a lot of talking, a lot of interesting experiences about different world leaders that we may all have met."
