Italian president to have formal audience with new Pope

Pope Benedict XVI is to receive the Italian president today in the first formal audience for a head of state since he was elected to the pontificate.

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was expected at the Vatican at around 10am Irish time.

The Pope briefly greeted Ciampi and hundreds of other dignitaries who had attended his installation Mass in St Peter’s Square on April 24.

Benedict XVI, the former German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was elected to the pontificate on April 19 in one of the shortest conclaves in a century.