(ANSA) - International issues topped the agenda in private talks on Saturday between Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Pope Benedict XVI.
The first official meeting between the premier and the German-born pope lasted more than 30 minutes and took place in the pontiff's private library. Afterwards, the Vatican and the government underscored the good relations between the Holy See and the Italian state.
The premier's office issued a statement saying that "an examination of the main international issues confirmed the special convergence between Italy's position and the moral and religious objectives of the Catholic Church in the world."
It said Berlusconi and the pope had also discussed "the current state of bilateral relations and their future development in a climate of active collaboration as regulated by the Lateran Pacts."
The Lateran Pacts, forged between the Catholic Church and Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime in 1929, gave the Vatican City State legal status as independent territory and made the Holy See a political entity. The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, said that the pope and Berlusconi had had a "friendly" meeting which "reaffirmed the shared desire for
collaboration" based on the Lateran Pacts.
He said that they had "exchanged views on many problems that they are particularly concerned about."
The Vatican press office said that "the visit of the Italian head of government allowed the exchange of information on the current international situation."
Cabinet Undersecretary Gianni Letta was present during the talks.
Berlusconi arrived at the Vatican with a large delegation of government officials and diplomats including Berlusconi's spokesman Paolo Bonaiuti and Italian Ambassador to the Vatican Balboni Acqua.
The pontiff and Berlusconi also exchanged gifts, with the pope receiving a 19th-century, ebony and ivory French crucifix and the premier a rosary for his mother Rosa.
The talks came two days after the Church expressed concern that a controversial government plan to devolve powers from the state to Italy's 20 regions could undermine health care in underdeveloped areas of the country.
The church toned down its criticism on Friday with Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Italy's highest-ranking cardinal, stressing that it was not the Church's place to "pronounce on institutional reforms." But the Vatican has also been railing against the experimental introduction in a number of Italian regions of an abortion pill.
The RU486 pill, which is also known as mifepristone, causes a miscarriage if it is taken within the first seven weeks of pregnancy, allowing women to avoid a surgical abortion. On Wednesday, the pope issued a fresh condemnation of abortion and praised the work of an Italian pro-life movement.
"By acting to prevent voluntary abortions, with careful support for women and families, you are helping to write pages of hope for the future of humanity," the 78-year-old pontiff said.
Ruini, meanwhile, said that abortion amounted to murder and yesterday expressed support for plans by Health Minister Francesco Storace to allow pro-life volunteers to work in family planning clinics.
The proposal has outraged women's rights' groups and members of the centre-left opposition.
Some MPs accused the Church of interfering in secular areas.
A pared-down version of the Concordat contained in the Lateran Pacts signed 20 years ago got rid of a clause defining Italy as a "confessional", or religious state. It also scrubbed state influence in appointing bishops and made religious studies optional in state schools.
The first article of the revised Concordat reads: "State and Church, each one independent and sovereign in its own order, commit themselves to full respect of this principle and to reciprocal collaboration in promoting man and the good of the country."
