The Hollywood actor and former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday met Pope Francis at the end of the general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican.

The 69-year-old said onTwitter after the meeting: "It was my great honor to meet His Holiness @Pontifex. I am a huge fan – a true leader for the Church & a steward for all of God's creatures."

Schwarzenegger, who was California governor between 2003-2011, presented the Pope with a book on the state and reportedly discussed environmental issues.

"Governor Schwarzenegger is a huge fan of Pope Francis, and he absolutely loves that he uses his pulpit to shine a light on our environment," a representative for Schwarzenegger told ABC News. "He met with His Holiness today and discussed their shared commitment to clean energy and future collaboration on that issue."

Schwarzenegger grew up in a Catholic family, attending Mass every Sunday and has described himself as "a very devout Catholic".

In 2007, while Governor of California he told the Toronto Star, referring to embryonic stem cell research: "I am a Catholic and a very dedicated Catholic, but that does not interfere with my decision-making because I know that stem-cell research, the way we are doing it in California ... is the right way to go and will save, very quickly down the line, lives and cure a lot of these illnesses."

During his weekly address, Pope Francis said that women are more courageous than men, citing the biblical heroine Judith as an example of trusting God amid sufferings and difficulties when it is easy to give up hope and fall into despair.

"This is my opinion, but women are more courageous than men," the Pope said to applause, according to the Catholic Herald.

Pope Francis focused his sermon on Judith, "a woman of great beauty and wisdom," who reproached the people of Israel for their lack of trust in God to deliver them from foreign invaders.

He said: "They were at the point of saying, 'God has sold us.' How many times have we come to situations that test our limits where we are not even able to trust in the Lord? It is an ugly temptation."

Pope Francis said that Judith confronts the people's doubts with the "courageous language" of faith and hope in the moment of despair.

Her courage is a reminder, the Pope said, for Christians "to knock on the door of God's heart; he is a father, he can save us. This widow risks [everything], even of making herself look like a fool in front of the others. But she is courageous, she goes forward."

The Pope went on: "To trust God means entering into his plans without assuming anything" and to believe that "he knows better than us."

The Pope used grandmothers as an example of the wisdom of women. "The words of grandmothers – how many times do grandmothers know the right word to say," he said. "They give words of hope because they have the experience of life, they have suffered so much, they trusted in God and the Lord gave them this gift of giving us hopeful advice."