Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Friday discussed with Pope Benedict XVI the plight of the war-torn country's Christians, according to a Vatican statement.
Maliki, who had a 20-minute meeting with the pontiff at his Castel Gandolfo summer residence, also met other officials including Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone.
They discussed the situation of "many refugees inside and outside the country who need help, in particular with regards to their return," said the statement.
The two men also issued a renewed condemnation of the continuing violence in Iraq, where Christian communities "strongly feel the need for greater security," it added.
The Vatican hoped "that Iraq can find a path to peace and development through dialogue and cooperation with all ethnic and religious groups including minorities in respect of their respective identities," it said.
Maliki, who met his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday, also invited the pope to visit Iraq.
In March, the body of Iraq's kidnapped Chaldean Catholic archbishop, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was found near the northern city of Mosul, prompting warnings of a mass exodus of Christians from Iraq.
Iraq's Christians, with the Chaldean rite by far the largest community, were said to number as many as 800,000 before the US-led invasion. The number today is believed to have dropped to half that figure due to massive emigration.
Associated with the "Crusader" invaders and regarded as well-off, they are often victims of sectarian violence, killings and kidnappings at the hands of both Sunni and Shiite Islamists, as well as criminal gangs.
On January 6, a series of bombs exploded outside churches and a monastery in Mosul, in an apparently coordinated attack that wounded four people and damaged buildings, as Christians celebrated Epiphany.
Maliki was due to leave Italy and return to Iraq on Saturday.
