.- Pope Benedict XVI has not currently scheduled any meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, according to the director of the Holy See Press Office.
“Neither myself nor the papal entourage, the cardinals, have any news of this,” Fr. Federico Lombardi said on March 25, in response to speculation about a possible meeting between the Pope and Venezuela's president during the papal visit to Cuba.
Asked about the prospect at the International Press Office set up in León's Hotsson Hotel, the priest said no such meeting is in the trip's program. He urged journalists “not to raise expectations” without warrant, as some news sources have done.
The Pope did, however, meet with a group of Mexicans victimized by violence during his time in the country.
This meeting, Fr. Lombardi said, took place after his meeting with children in Guanajuato, and was not solely concerned with one topic. Rather, the Pope greeted them as part of a larger group of people with whom he spent some time during the evening in the House of Count Rul.
