VATICAN: Pope Benedict received Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez yesterday and listed a series of deep concerns about threats to religious freedom in largely Catholic Venezuela, the Vatican said.
Mr Chavez, on a two-day visit to Rome, held talks with the pope for about 35 minutes in the pontiff's private study. He later described the meeting as a chance to put their past problems behind them.
But a Vatican spokesman said that during the audience the pope gave the left-wing president a letter which contained "points of concern on the part of the Church" about the situation in Venezuela.
A statement issued later said that in their talks, Pope Benedict had reaffirmed the Vatican's right to name bishops freely and expressed his concern that the religious freedom of Saint Rose University in Venezuela was under threat.
"The church has no reason for concern," Mr Chavez told reporters. "I think we can completely turn the page and relegate these conflicts to the past." Mr Chavez has maintained an uneasy relationship with the country's Catholic church hierarchy since he came to office in 1999.
The Vatican statement said the pope also told Mr Chavez he was concerned that religious education was being squeezed out of some schools in Venezuela.