Pope to receive Taoiseach

POPE Benedict XVI will receive Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in private audience next Thursday, the Government disclosed yesterday.

The audience with Pope Benedict, who has received relatively few political leaders since his inauguration, will take place on Thursday morning in the Vatican.

It will be Mr Ahern’s first private meeting with a Pontiff. However, he did meet the late Pope, John Paul II, but in the company of Archbishop Desmond Connell at the time of his elevation to Cardinal in 2001.