De Villepin also had a separate meeting late Friday with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano and the pope's foreign minister Monsignor Jean-Louis Tauran, who is French.

"During the talks they referred to the war in Iraq and on the necessity to shorten the suffering of the civilian population," said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.

They also said the international community should "help the Iraqis to themselves be the artisans of reconstruction" of the war-ravaged country after the war, Navarro-Valls said.

The discussions touched on the Middle East peace process, he added.

The pope and his officials also pressed de Villepin on the Holy See's view that the role of Christian churches be recognised in the work of the European Convention on reforming Europe's institutions.

John Paul II has previously criticised the convention in Brussels for ignoring Christianity in formulating a new legal framework for the European Union.

SPACE.WIRE