VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI gave his support Friday to Lebanon's "characteristic" identity and called for a "just and rapid" settlement of the Palestinian cause.
He made his remarks in a 25-minute audience with Lebanon's President Michel Sleiman, the Vatican press service said.
The pontiff repeated "the continued commitment of the Holy See in favour of Lebanon", a country where many faiths coexist, and "the safeguarding of its so characteristic an identity".
Benedict and Sleiman also discussed "the delicate regional situation, expressing the wish that the Palestinian question finds a just and rapid solution".
Palestinians contiue to live under a long and brutal Israeli occupation.
The Pope discussed the plight of Christians in the Middle East with Sleiman, the Maronite Christian president of mainly Muslim Lebanon.
"The conditions of life and the problems of Christian communities in the Middle East" were also reviewed, the press service said.
By custom, the position of president in Lebanon is reserved for a Maronite Christian and the prime minister is a Sunni Muslim.
Christians account for about 30 percent of Lebanon's population but their numbers have declined steadily in recent decades.
The number of Christians in Iraq has also fallen by more than 200,000 since the 2003 US invasion.
The 59-year-old Sleiman, a former commander-in-chief of Lebanon's army, was elected president by parliament in May after months of political paralysis, during which time the pope urged Lebanese leaders to unify as a "symbol" of peaceful coexistence between different religious communities.
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