British PM Blair Meets With Pope
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
The Associated Press
June 23, 2007

British Prime Minister Tony Blair held long talks with Pope Benedict XVI in a Vatican meeting Saturday, a stop on his farewell tour that has fueled rumors he plans to become a Roman Catholic.

The two men met privately for 25 minutes and then were joined for further talks by English Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor.

No immediate details of the talks were given.

Greeted by Benedict, Blair explained that he had just arrived from an EU summit in Brussels.

'I heard it was very successful,' Benedict said.

'Yes, we had a very long night. We finished up at 5:30 in the morning,' Blair replied.

The Guardian newspaper in Britain, citing unidentified sources, reported Friday that an invitation for Blair and his wife to join the Archbishop of Westminster, Murphy-O'Connor, for lunch at the Venerable English College in Rome was a signal the Catholic church would take Blair into its fold. the rest