POPE RECEIVES SYRIAN PRESIDENT

VATICAN CITY, FEB 21, 2002 (VIS) - At midday today, Fr. Ciro Benedettini C.P., vice-director of the Holy See Press Office, made the following declaration:

"The Holy Father today received in audience Bashar Al-Assad, president of the Arab Republic of Syria, accompanied by his entourage.

"The Syrian president then met Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano for a cordial encounter in which Farouk Al-Shara, vice-prime minister and foreign minister of Syria, and Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, secretary for Relations with States, also took part.

"In the course of the discussions, opinions were exchanged on the subject of relations between Syria and the Holy See following the Holy Father's historic visit to Damascus last year, and on ways to restore peace to the Middle East, especially the Holy Land, on the basis of the well-known U.N. resolutions."

OP;PRESIDENTIAL AUDIENCE;...;SYRIA; AL-ASSAD;VIS;20020221;Word: 150;