MEP Corina Cretu and Daciana Sarbu (PES) and Sebastian Bodu and Marian-Jean Marinescu (EPP-ED) on Wednesday afternoon were welcomed by Pope Benedict XVI in a general audience, where the four thanked the pope for his hospitality and the position of the Catholic Church of Rome on Romanian immigrants in Italy and Western Europe.

At the meeting that took place in the San Pietro Piazza of Vatican, the four Romanian MEPs gave the Pope a religious icon and an album of Romanian monasteries, extending condolences for the victims of the Abruzzo earthquake and solidarity with the Italian people.

'This was a highly important and significant meeting. We managed to talk to His Holiness and we thanked him for the efforts of the Catholic Church in favour of the Romanian religious community and for keeping harmony in Italy,' Cretu told, while her colleague Sarbu said she was very excited about the meeting.