According to a statement today from the Vatican press office, "This morning, Farouk al-Charaa, vice president of the Syrian Arab Republic, was received by His Holiness Benedict XVI, to whom he delivered a personal message from Bashar al-Assad, president of Syria."
The communiqué continued: "During the course of the conversation, having highlighted the efforts being made by Syria to receive hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees and the assistance expected from multilateral organizations, attention turned to the problems faced by Christians in the country, and to the decisive contribution the Syrian Arab Republic can make to the grave crises affecting many peoples in the Middle East."
Farouk al-Charaa later met with Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Vatican secretary for relations with states.
ZE07090508 - 2007-09-05