Pope to meet Betancourt as soon as possible

Pope Benedict will receive former Colombian rebel hostage Ingrid Betancourt as soon as his schedule allows, Vatican sources said yesterday, without setting a date for the meeting.

The Pontiff had repeatedly called for the release of kidnapped Colombians like Ms Betancourt, a devout Catholic who made a wooden rosary bead set in the jungle that she used to pray with each day as a hostage.

He sent the French-Colombian politician (and former presidential candidate) a telegram following the surprise military operation that freed her on Wednesday after more than six years in captivity.

Before leaving Colombia for Paris, Ms Betancourt had said she expected to meet the Pope next week. Any meeting before the Pontiff flies to Australia on July 12 would be an exception to his schedule, which had ruled out such audiences.

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg has also congratulated the Colombian government on the military operation which rescued 15 hostages, including Ingrid Betancourt, kidnapped by Farc leftist rebels.

Meanwhile Pope Benedict will visit Paris and the shrine of Lourdes in southwest France in September, the Vatican added yesterday.

The main purpose of the trip from September 12 to 15 would be to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the date in 1858 when the Madonna was said to have appeared to a peasant girl, Bernadette Soubirous.

Lourdes is Roman Catholicism's premier shrine and the Church has recognised more than 65 cases of what it calls miraculous healings among thousands of pilgrims who have said they left Lourdes free of their ailments.

In Paris, Pope Benedict will meet President Nicolas Sarkozy and hold several religious events, including a service in Notre Dame cathedral and an open-air mass at the Invalides Esplanade.

He will also meet members of France's Jewish community.

The Pope leaves later this month for Australia to preside at the Church's World Day of Youth.