WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama and wife Michelle revealed to day time talk queen Oprah Winfrey that one of their biggest thrills as president and first lady had been seeing their kids meet Pope Benedict XVI.

Obama and his wife were asked about their best moments as a family since they moved into the White House in January 2009.

“A lot of our foreign travel for me I think, watching Malia and Sasha Obama ... meet the pope,” said the first lady in remarks released of the interview's full airing on Monday.

The president said that as they waited to meet Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican his girls had started to get weary.

“Apparently they were getting tired and they wanted to sit on the floor in the Sistine Chapel,” he said. “Apparently each time they saw somebody in a frock they'd say, is that the pope?”

Obama had an audience with the pontiff and visited the Vatican as part of a European trip in July 2009, with his wife and daughters Malia, who is now 12 and Sasha, who is 9.