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Pope to meet religious leaders at summit

Pope Benedict XVI was to meet in Naples yesterday with leaders of several of the world's main religions on the sidelines of an inter-faith peace summit.

The pope is making a pastoral visit to the impoverished southern Italian city at the same time as the summit organized by the Sant'Egidio community, in what the lay Catholic association called a "happy coincidence."

The pontiff will lunch with the heads of the delegations to the summit including Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Israel's chief rabbi Yona Metzger and the imam of the United Arab Emirates, Ibrahim Ezzeddin.

Benedict will first celebrate an open-air mass in Naples' main piazza starting at 10am, to be shown on giant screens around the city for the expected spillover crowd.

He will also pay his respects to relics of Saint Januaris, a third-century martyr and patron saint of Naples. For the first time in many years, the urn holding the saint's bones will be opened for the pope to bless them.

Some of Januaris' dried blood, contained in vials, is said to miraculously liquefy twice each year, in the spring and again on his feast day in September -- as well as occasionally during papal visits.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi will attend the luncheon and help inaugurate the three-day Sant'Egidio summit, which has the theme "A World Without Violence: Faiths and Cultures in Dialogue" and will include some 200 speakers.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Mikwete, Malawian President Bingu Wa Mutharika and Ecuadoran President of Rafael Correa will also address the gathering.

Topics will include AIDS, immigration, and the plight of Africa. Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema will speak at a session today on the quest for peace in the Middle East.
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