Pope to challenge Saudi King over curbs on religious freedoms
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent of The Times
November 6, 2007

Comment: Ruth Gledhill's Articles of Faith blog

The Pope was expected to challenge King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia about the severe restrictions on religious freedom for non-Muslims at an historic audience at the Vatican today.

Pope Benedict XVI is understood to be concerned about the rights of Christians in Saudi Arabia and about Muslim-Christian relations. The two states do not have formal diplomatic relations.
This morning's meeting – the first visit by a Saudi monarch to the Vatican – came a little more than a year after the Pope's controversial Regensburg address when he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who said that Muhammad had brought only “evil and inhuman” things. the rest

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