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Sarkozy, pope in key meeting
20/12/2007 16:07 - (SA)
Vatican City - Nicolas Sarkozy, the first French president to divorce while in office, met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Thursday amid a new blaze of publicity over his personal life.
The private audience lasted about half an hour. Vatican sources said the pair discussed secularism in French society.
The pair later exchanged gifts, Benedict offering Sarkozy a commemorative medal of his papacy while accepting a copy of a 2004 book that Sarkozy co-authored titled The Republic, Religions and Hope.
French society was more interested in Sarkozy's new romance with Carla Bruni, the Italian pop singer and ex-supermodel.
The relationship has started a media frenzy in France after Sarkozy began dating Bruni, just two months after the president and his second wife Cecilia announced their divorce.
French celebrity magazines brought forward publications days to get several pages of photos of Sarkozy and Bruni together at Paris Disneyland out on the streets.
There had been speculation that Bruni would accompany him to the Vatican but this was quashed by Italian media.
Sarkozy's audience with the pope "will give the president an opportunity to reaffirm his respect and commitment, not to religion in particular ... but to spiritual issues in general," his spokesperson said ahead of the audience.
The Vatican has portrayed the visit as routine and part of the president's international agenda since he took over from Jacques Chirac in May.
A Catholic, Sarkozy has said that French identity is deeply rooted in the Christian faith and has often spoken admiringly of Benedict's predecessor Pope John Paul II.
Sarkozy was to extend a formal invitation to the pope to pay an official visit to France next year, according to French diplomats.
The pope is expected to go to Lourdes to take part in celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the visions of the Virgin Mary by shepherdess Bernadette Soubirous, which has made the French town an international landmark.
Later, Sarkozy was to be made an "honorary canon" at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, the pope's seat as bishop of Rome. The title has been bestowed on French leaders since the 1589-1610 reign of Henry IV, who converted to Catholicism from Calvinism.
While in Rome, Sarkozy was also to have talks with Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Spanish leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
The board of the ailing Alitalia airline and the Italian government are debating which of two rival bidders should take over the state firm - Air France-KLM or Italian carrier Air One.
Prodi denied reports that he would discuss the Alitalia sale with Sarkozy, who for his part said last week that he would discuss the issue with the Italian leader.
On Thursday evening Sarkozy was to dine with Prodi and the Spanish prime minister, with talks to focus on a ideas for a Mediterranean Union, a proposed community of Mediterranean countries.
Sarkozy suggested the grouping, partly as an alternative to Turkish membership of the EU. Italy favours Ankara's entry into the EU.
- AFP
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