Ex-president if Iran meets with Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI hoped that his talks with Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami would help providing good relationship between Muslims and Christians following bitter misunderstanding after Pope’s remarks on Islam.

Khatami, a reformist in power from 1997 to 2005, had been scheduled to meet with Benedict in October but the meeting was canceled. No reason was given, but it was weeks after Benedict's speech in Germany about Islam touched off protests across the Muslim world.

No details of the meeting at the Vatican were given immediately.

It was Khatami's second meeting with a pope, following an audience with Pope John Paul II in 1999, two years after the Iranian had taken office.

While in Rome, he also addressed an academic gathering at the Pontifical Gregorian University.