HISTORIC MEETING: Pope Benedict XVI meets with Saudi's King Abdullah at the Vatican, the meeting, the first between a Pope and a Saudi monarch, is expected to centre on Christian-Islam relations.
Pope Benedict and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah have held a historic meeting and discussed the situation of minority Christians in the Islamic country where the Vatican wants them to have more freedom.
At the first meeting between a Pope and a Saudi monarch, the two also discussed relations between Christians, Muslims and Jews and prospects for a Middle East peace.
The two spoke for about 30 minutes in the Pontiff's private study with the help of interpreters. Benedict spoke in Italian and the king spoke in Arabic. The Vatican said the meeting was cordial.
A Vatican statement said "the presence and hard work of Christians (in Saudi Arabia) was discussed".
Vatican sources said before the meeting that they expected the Pope to raise his concern over the situation of the tiny Christian minority in the country that is home to the Islam's holiest sites.
The Vatican wants greater rights for the one million Catholics who live in Saudi Arabia, most of them migrant workers who are not allowed to practice their religion in public.
They are only allowed to worship in private places, usually homes, and cannot wear signs of their faith in public.
The Vatican said other topics discussed at the meeting included inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue and "collaboration among Christians, Muslims and Jews for the promotion of peace, justice and spiritual and moral values, especially those which support the family".
The Pope and the king also discussed the Middle East, particularly the need to find "a just solution to the conflicts that afflict the region, in particular the Israeli-Palestinian (conflict)".
Muslims around the world protested last year after Benedict, speaking at a university in his native Germany, used a quote that associated Islam with violence.
In that speech at a university in Regensburg in his native Germany, Benedict quoted the Byzantine emperor Manuel Paleologus as saying to a Muslim:
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
The Pope later said he was misunderstood and has several times expressed esteem for Muslims.
At the end of the Vatican meeting, the king gave the Pope a gold and silver sword studded with precious jewels, in keeping with a Bedouin custom the Saudis also follow when foreign leaders visit their country.
The king also presented Benedict with a small silver and gold statue depicting a palm tree and a man riding a camel.
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