NPR News

During papal audiences with heads of state, the exchange of gifts comes after the private encounter and at the end of the event. It offers the pool reporters a chance to witness the body language of the two leaders and listen in as they explain their gifts.

It also offers a glimpse into what the two leaders think of each other.

Chuck Johnson's music always finds the calm at the center of the storm. He's best known for his hypnotic, yet lyrical, solo guitar work, but for his new record Balsams Johnson meditates on — and through — the lush ambiance of the pedal steel.

President Trump had an audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on Wednesday, receiving messages about peace, the environment and immigrants from the religious leader. The meeting came a year after the pope suggested Trump "is not Christian" because of his plan for a U.S-Mexico border wall.

The recent success of John Darnielle — author of the acclaimed Wolf in White Van and Universal Harvester as well as the leader of the indie-rock band the Mountain Goats — has given fresh legitimacy to the crossover between music star and literary figure. (We won't bring up Bob Dylan.)

It's a simple, frequently recurring phrase: "The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack." But it raises some questions: Is the claim credible or just an empty assertion, and if it's true, what does "responsibility" actually entail?

Experts who closely follow the Islamic State say that in general when it comes to attacks in the West, an ISIS claim of responsibility usually means there was some sort of connection. But the attack might have been planned, funded and directed by ISIS — or it could just have been inspired by the group's propaganda.