Pope receives Iranian delegation and a letter from president Ahmadinejad
(28 Dec. 2006) : Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met briefly with Pope
Benedict XVI on Dec. 27, who gave the Pontiff a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. The four-member delegation met the Pope in one of the reception rooms
of the Vatican audience hall immediately after the His weekly general audience, on
the occasion of 50 years of diplomatic relations between Iran and the Holy See.
During
the course of the meeting, the Iranian representatives expressed their best wishes
to the Pope and their pleasure for completion of 50-year relationship. For his part,
Pope Benedict also offered them best wishes and reaffirmed the role the Holy See intends
to exercise for peace in the world, not as a political authority, but religious and
moral, appealing to consciences so that the problems of peoples always are resolved
through dialogue in mutual understanding and peace. Ehsan Jahandideh, a spokesman
for Ahmadinejad, told reporters in Tehran, Iran, that the president's letter did not
deal with political concerns, but "on the need to find a way for putting an end to
the sufferings of mankind and for promoting human relations based on common religious
teachings."