By Debbie McGoldrick

Bono had a private audience with the Pope in conjunction with the work he does on behalf of the destitute of Africa.

The U2 frontman, currently back on the day job full time with the launch last week of the band’s “Vertigo” tour, described John Paul II as “the best front man the Catholic church ever had. A great show man, a great communicator of ideas even if you didn’t agree with all of them, a great friend to the world’s poor which is how I got to meet him.”

Bono paid tribute to the Pope during a U2 show on Saturday in Anaheim. “We would never have gotten the debts of 23 countries completely canceled without him,” he said.

Bono was also quoted in USA Today as saying, “In Ireland, a lot of people were very upset by his failure to embrace contraception as a necessity, not just for modern life but for the life of the poor in Africa and other places he worked so very hard to help. I knew his convictions were very real, and I’ve learned to respect conservative positions I don’t hold.”

The Pope and Bono met in 2000 in Italy at the Pope’s vacation home. It’s a meeting the U2 star will never forget — not least because the Pope took a shine to Bono’s trademark sunglasses.

“I asked if he wanted them,” Bono said. “He not only nodded, but he put them on and made the wickedest smile. It was a great moment for a lot of reasons.”

There are, unfortunately, no public photos of the Pope decked out in Bono’s shades. “The Vatican courtiers didn’t have the same sense of humor as the Pontiff,” Bono said. “They could imagine the t-shirts. We’ll never see those photos.”