Iran's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to meet Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the Italian capital next week, La Repubblica daily reported on Tuesday.Ahmadinejad "would like to expound his ideas to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and his government's position on the major issues in world affairs," according to an unnamed diplomatic source, cited by La Repubblica.
Tehran has given the Iranian Embassy to the Holy See, instructions to ask "repeatedly" for an audience with the Pope, the paper said.
Ahmadinejad has also asked for a meeting with Italy's new conservative prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, according to La Repubblica.
The Iranian premier will be in Rome to attend an FAO summit of world leaders on global food security, climate change and bioenergy.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation is holding the summit at its Rome headquarters from 3-5 June.
"I hope the visit by President Ahmadinejad will send a message to the international community. He is convinced that today's world scenario will undergo radical change," Iran's ambassador to Italy, Abolfaz Zohrevand, told La Repubblica. He did not elaborate.
Ahmadinejad has in speeches over several years repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel.
The Iranian government is currently locked in a tense standoff with western powers over its nuclear programme, which Tehran claims is solely for electricity generation but which the West fears is aimed at building atomic weapons.
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