March 1, 2011. Benedict XVI met with the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek from Poland. They spoke about the riots sweeping across Arab nations, as well as religious freedom and the need to protect Christian minorities.

Jerzy Buzek
President of European Parliament 
“We have also been discussing the latest events in North Africa and the Middle East and we hope that all of them will go towards democratization and to develop as a civil society by defending human rights, but we also underlined that it's very important to fight for the religions minority rights and that means Christians minority rights in this part of the world and also all over the world.”

The two had a very friendly meeting as Buzek remembered the speech John Paul II gave before the European Parliament in 1988. He then invited Benedict XVI to visit the European Parliament.

Jerzy Buzek
President of European Parliament
“We have also talked about the coming beatification of John Paul II and as we remembered in 1988 he delivered a speech to the European Parliament talking about the two lungs Europe should breath with. We we just breath with two lungs in the European Union. It's very important to remember this once again.”

Benedict XVI and Jerzy Buzek also exchanged views on relations between the Catholic Church and the European Parliament as well as other European institutions and the contribution that the Church can make inside the European Union.

The Pope thanked him for the meeting and sent his best wishes to the president's family.

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