Arias In Audience With the Pope
President Oscar Arias, on tour in Europe, met today with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatica, following a meeting with Italian president, Giorgio Napolitano.

The audience with the pope lasted no more than 15 minutes and in the company of Vatican State secretary, Angelo Solano and accompanied by Costa Rican Foreign Minister, Bruno Stagno, Tourism Minister, Carlos Benavides and Ana Maria Solera, director of protocol.

President Arias is in Rome to receive the “Un bosque para Kyoto” on behalf of Costa Rica, handed to him by the Italian Kronos Academy, an organization dedicated to defending the environment.

The award is given to the 15 countries that top the list for top score for environmental policies as decided by the Unites States universities Yale and Columbia.

Last Friday Arias was in Germany to support the Costa Rican national team in its first game of the 2006 World Cup soccer. The team lost 4-2 to the Germans in the open play of the tournament.