DHAKA: Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has sent Pope Francis a private message, the Vatican said on Saturday, without disclosing its contents.

The Vatican said a delegation headed by Joseph Sweid, a Syrian minister of state, held talks in the Vatican with the pope’s secretary of state, Archbishop Pietro Parolin and his foreign minister, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.

‘The delegation brought a message from President Assad for the Holy Father and illustrated the position of the Syrian government,’ a statement said, reports TDS.

Francis has made numerous appeals for an end to the civil war in Syria, the latest on Christmas Day.

Syria`s civil war between forces loyal to Assad and mostly Sunni Muslim rebels fighting to topple him has killed more than 100,000 people since March 2011.

BDST: 1945 HRS, DEC 28, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor