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ROME — President Bush and Pope John Paul II (search ) met briefly for talks in Vatican City Friday at the start of the president's 36-hour tour of Italy. The president nodded and smiled as he greeted the 84-year-old pontiff, leaning down to hold his trembling hands. The closed-door talks between the president and the Pope, who has expressed fervent opposition to the war in Iraq, were to focus on Iraq and the conflict in the

ROME (AFP) - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II is expected to warn President George W. Bush when the two men meet on June 4 that his policy in Iraq is wrong and the actions of US troops are damaging efforts to bring religions closer together, a senior Vatican official revealed. Cardinal Pio Laghi said the US-led occupation force in Iraq should be replaced by "a multinational presence which is not dominated by those who wanted and fought the war." It was not enough for a military force in Iraq not to be under US command, "it must...