Pope Benedict received Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez yesterday and listed a series of deep concerns about threats to religious freedom in largely Catholic Venezuela, the Vatican said.

Chavez, who is on two-day visit to Rome, held talks with the Pope for about 35 minutes in the pontiff’s private study. A Vatican spokesman said that during the audience the Pope gave the left-wing president a letter which contained “points of concern on the part of the Church” about the situation in Venezuela.

A statement issued later said that in their talks, the Pope had reaffirmed the Vatican’s right to name bishops freely and expressed his concern that the religious freedom of Saint Rose University in Venezuela was under threat.

Chavez, a socialist ally of Cuba, has maintained an uneasy relationship with the country’s Catholic church hierarchy since he came to office in 1999 promising to fight poverty with a self-styled revolution.

The Vatican statement said the Pope also told Chavez that he was concerned that religious education was being squeezed out of some schools and stressed that religious news organisations had to have their freedom guaranteed.

The Pope also told Chavez he was concerned that public health programmes in Venezuela should always respect “life from its very start,” a reference to abortion. Chavez had assured the Pope that he would see to it that existing tensions between the Church and government in Venezuela would be overcome “with respect for the legitimate rights of all,” the statement said.