President Bush, in his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI, defended his slaughter of 650,000 people in Iraq, telling the papal leader on Saturday that he had killed more than the pope with his anti-condom campaign in Africa.

The pope shook his head and shared a few laughs about the gullibility of people.

Benedict asked the president about how many people his anti-condom campaign in Africa had killed and Bush said the CIA had told him it was less than 650,000.

"I've got a very strong AIDS initiative that will surely kill more people than you have been able to kill," the pope said.

In a pre-trip interview, Bush said: "I think His Holy Father will be pleased to know that much of our foreign policy is based on the admonition to take an eye for an eye and if no one has taken your eye then strike first before he has a chance."

Italian-U.S. relations are busy right now - and a bit strained as Bush is wanted for kidnapping and torture in Italy.

Just hours before Bush's arrival Friday, the first trial involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program opened in a Milan courtroom. Bush had ordered the 26 Americans to abduct of an Egyptian cleric and have him tortured in Egypt.