Malaysian PM to meet pope, eyes ties with Vatican

[Dale_M]

Prime Minister Najib Razak is due to meet Pope Benedict XVI mid-July as Malaysia embarks on a plan to establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican, a top official said Tuesday.

“The meeting with Pope Benedict XVI is set for July 18. The meeting with the pope is to show that Malaysia respects all religions,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

About nine percent of Malaysia’s 28 million people are Christian, including 850,000 Catholics. The majority community of Malays are Muslim.

news.yahoo.com/malaysian-pm-meet-pope-eyes-ties-vatican-070915165.html;_ylt=AjG0guGXuhencef8.eeUXh87Xs8F;_ylu=X3oDMTM5c2FlZzI2BHBrZwMyYjI3NWVjNS0wNjVmLTNiNTgtYjkzNC01MmIyYjQyNGU3YzIEcG9zAzQEc2VjA01lZGlhVG9wU3RvcnkEdmVyA2IwZWMxOTMwLWE2ZDYtMTFlMC05ZmJkLWRkZDQwZGVmMjIxZA–;_ylg=X3oDMTFwc3ZuNThtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAN1c3xyZWxpZ2lvbgRwdANzZWN0aW9ucw–;_ylv=3

Malaysia has seen some religious persecution of Christians in recent years, generating talk that the country is being “Islamicized.”

Currently the Holy See has diplomatic relations with 177 countries. The full list can be seen here (although it is slightly out of date, omitting Russia, which established full diplomatic relations last year.):
vatican.va/news_services/press/documentazione/documents/corpo-diplomatico/corpo-diplomatico_stati_elenco_en.html