VATICAN CITY: A Muslims delegation would have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI this week after taking part in a seminar on religious leadership in times of crisis, the Vatican said on Monday.

Members of the World Islamic Call Society, headquartered in Libya, were visiting the Vatican for the 11th time since 1976 and would see the pope on Wednesday, the Vatican said in a statement.

WISC, grouping some 250 Muslim associations across the world, carries out humanitarian, religious, cultural and social projects.

The Vatican maintains ties with several Muslim organisations around the world.

The most prominent recent initiative has been the creation of a Catholic-Muslim forum in response to a 2006 call for inter-faith by 138 Muslim intellectuals and religious figures.

The first such forum, held at the Vatican in early November, issued a joint call for religious freedom, non-violence and a fairer world.—AFP