Pope asks Bush about plight of Iraqi Christians
Jun 10, 2007 04:30 AM
ROME–U.S. President George W. Bush says he and Pope Benedict XVI discussed the plight of Iraq’s minority Christians in private talks yesterday.The Pope “did express deep concern about the Christians inside Iraq,” Bush told reporters after his private audience with the pontiff.“I assured him we were working hard to make sure that people lived up to the constitution,” regarding religious tolerance.The Vatican said the Pope voiced his “hope for a regional and negotiated solution” to conflicts in the Middle East and spoke of his concern for Christians in Iraq, where a Chaldean Catholic priest and three deacons from that Eastern rite were murdered last Sunday.
Other topics discussed included the Israeli-Palestinian situation, the conflict in Darfur and Latin American affairs.
