Pope meets Japanese Prime Minister

(July 08,2009): The first Catholic Prime Minister of Japan, Taro Aso, met on Tuesday with Pope Benedict XVI for talks that touched on topics including the world economic crises and aid to Africa. A statement from the Holy See said the cordial meeting lasted 30 minutes.
Aso is the first of the world leaders gathering for the Group of Eight (G8 ) Summit in Italy to meet with the Pope. Japan has pushed for Africa to be a major theme of the G8 Summit and the Vatican’s communiqué noted their shared commitment to help the African Continent. The statement said that Vatican-Japanese relations, as well as Church-State relations were excellent. Only one per cent of Japanese are Christians, but Catholics play an influential role in areas such as education. After this meeting, the Japanese Prime Minister met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, along with Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Vatican's Minister for Relations with States. This visit marks the second high-level meeting between the Vatican and the Asian country this year. Last March, Archbishop Mamberti became the first Vatican top diplomat to make an official visit to Japan in the 67-year-history of bilateral relations, which were established in 1942. There are 1 million Catholics living in Japan, out of a total population of 127 million people.