Pope Benedict XVI met with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. The reason? The continued violence in the Muslim world over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.

The meeting lasted about 20 minutes in private in Benedict’s library before being joined by Siniora’s 12-member delegation, which included his wife and several Lebanese ministers.

Muslims make up at least 60 per cent of Lebanon’s estimated 3.5 million population, with the remainder Christian.

The Pope has singled out Lebanon in some recent speeches, including his Christmas Day message in which he said that signs of hope in the country, as well as in Iraq and the Holy Land, needed to be “confirmed by actions inspired by fairness and wisdom”.

Full story at Scotsman.com