Pope Francis and Iranian President Meet at Vatican

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis met with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran on Tuesday — the first meeting between a pope and an Iranian leader in nearly 17 years — and urged Iran to play an “important role” in finding political solutions for the various conflicts afflicting the Middle East.

The two leaders stressed “the importance of interreligious dialogue” to achieve this aim and the responsibilities of religious communities “in promoting reconciliation, tolerance and peace,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The private, 40-minute encounter with the pope came midway into Mr. Rouhani’s packed agenda on his four-day visit to Italy and France, where he is trying to re-establish trade and business ties after years of crippling sanctions. The trip follows the lifting of sanctions on Jan. 16, after Iran was judged to have complied with last summer’s deal with six world powers to limit nuclear activities.

To shake hands with the pope and other world leaders is by itself a success for Mr. Rouhani, who has promised to restore ties with Western countries. Iran had long been isolated over its nuclear program, and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad alienated many world leaders with his statements denying the Holocaust.

Mr. Rouhani’s visit is the first to Europe since taking office. He planned to sign several contracts that he hopes will restart his country’s ailing economy. In Italy, he signed a gas deal and in France he is expected to commit to buying 127 Airbus planes and sign a deal with the French carmaker Peugeot. The visit was widely reported in the pro-government press in Tehran.

The Vatican statement spoke of “the important role that Iran is called upon to fulfill” in promoting peaceful solutions to Middle East conflicts and countering the spread of terrorism and arms trafficking.

The wide availability of illegal weapons in the Middle East, an element of instability, “has always been an important issue for the Vatican,” said Raffaele Marchetti, who teaches international relations at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, so it was not surprising that the pope would raise the issue with Mr. Rouhani. “But he’d probably say the same to Sunni leaders,” he said.

Shiite Iran is seen as a potentially stabilizing element in the region because “Christian minorities in the Middle East are generally in a better situation with Shiite groups than with some Sunni groups,” Professor Marchetti said. He pointed out that Christian minorities supported the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, which allowed them to live in peace.

This also explains why the Vatican has never backed efforts to force Mr. Assad to resign, Professor Marchetti said. “Christians are frightened by the radical Sunni scenario that could emerge afterwards,” he said.

Since he became pope nearly three years ago, Francis has repeatedly spoken out against extremism and violence done in the name of religion. He has also called for diplomacy and dialogue in the Middle East and highlighted the impact the conflicts have had, most visibly on the millions of refugees who have been fleeing to Europe to escape the violence.

The pope was also a strong supporter of the Iranian nuclear agreement, and last Easter he praised the plan as “a definitive step toward a more secure and fraternal world.”

Meeting with the international diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See earlier this month, Pope Francis cited the nuclear deal as one of several important agreements brokered in 2015 that gave “solid hope for the future.” The pope said he hoped that the Iranian deal would “contribute to creating a climate of détente in the region.”

The Iranian delegation, which included Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, also met with the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for relations with states. The last time an Iranian president met with a pope was in March 1999, when Pope John Paul II met with President Mohammad Khatami. Mr. Khatami also led the Iranian delegation at John Paul II’s funeral in 2005. Pope Paul VI, who traveled to Tehran in 1970, is the only pope to have visited Iran.

President Rouhani also met with Italian political and business leaders in Rome. After a visit to the Capitoline Museums with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Mr. Rouhani said that Iran had “always been on the front line in combating terrorism,” and that had it not been for Iran’s role, “the situation would be very difficult.”

Careful not to upset the Iranian president’s sensitivities, according to a spokesman for Rome City Hall, Italian officials placed several classical Roman-era nude statues inside tall white wooden cartons when Mr. Rouhani visited the museums.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/27/world/middleeast/pope-francis-hassan-rouhani-meeting.html?_r=0