ITALY: European Parliament president Pat Cox yesterday met Pope John Paul II in the Vatican on a day of intense diplomatic activity for him in both Rome and Madrid.
Mr Cox was in Rome to attend a Vatican ceremony at which the Pope was awarded the Aachen, Germany-based Charlemagne Prize for his work in "promoting European understanding in the service of humanity and world peace".
Mr Cox is due to receive the annual version of the same award in May and had therefore wished to be present for yesterday's Vatican ceremony.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Cox said that during a brief exchange of greetings with the 83-year-old, he had found the pontiff in excellent mental health, notwithstanding his all too obvious physical shortcomings.
Speaking of the Charlemagne award, Mr Cox said: "It is most appropriate that, in this unique year of European enlargement, a special Charlemagne Prize is being awarded to His Holiness".
The prize has been awarded since 1950 by the city of Aachen for "distinguished service on behalf of European unification".
Although confined to a wheelchair as always nowadays, the Pope did indeed appear to be in distinctly good health yesterday, reading a lengthy address in German and then stopping to listen with obvious pleasure to the singing of the Aachen Cathedral choir at the end of the ceremony.
After the ceremony, Mr Cox had an hour-long meeting with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State, during which the two men exchanged views on a wide range of issues, including the draft European Constitution.
Earlier on a busy day, Mr Cox had accompanied Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to the annual commemoration ceremony at Rome's Fosse Ardeatine, site of a June 1944 Nazi-Fascist reprisal killing of 335 Italian civilians.
After that ceremony, Mr Cox then flew with President Ciampi to Madrid to attend a memorial service for the victims of the March 11th bombings.
Mr Cox's day finished yesterday evening at the Presidential Palace in Rome, where President Ciampi awarded him the title of Cavaliere di Gran Croce dell'Ordine del Merito della Repubblica Italiana for his work in promoting the cause of European enlargement.