Iran's Ahmadinejad sends message to Pope

TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in the Vatican City on Wednesday to deliver a message from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Pope, the official news agency IRNA reported.   

"Iran's foreign minister is scheduled to meet with Pope Benedict XVI at noon and deliver Ahmadinejad's written message to the pope," the report said.   

There was no information given on the content of the message.   

The Iranian president has written a succession of letters in recent months to explain his world view. In November, Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to the US people, in which he urged the 144,000 US troops to leave Iraq.   

He also wrote a letter in July to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, complaining that Germany was being exploited by "greedy Zionists", more than 60 years after World War II.   

As the first of such moves, the firebrand leader penned an angry missive to US President George W Bush in May, lashing out at the US-led invasion of Iraq, questioning Israel's right to exist and telling Bush to be more pious.