|TOP|The German chancellor has expressed her support for the EU constitution to more closely reflect Europe’s “Christian values”.

Angela Merkel made the comments following a meeting Monday with Pope Benedict XVI at his summer residence near Rome.

"We spoke about freedom of religion," she said after the talks. "We spoke about the role of Europe and I emphasised the need for a constitution and that it should refer to our Christian values."

Her remarks are likely to rekindle the debate on religion in the EU and will give some welcome clout to the pope’s campaign to see Europe’s Christian heritage acknowledged.

Mrs Merkel – the daughter of a Protestant pastor and leader of the Catholic CDU party – has already expressed her intent to reopen the debate on the inclusion of religious references in the constitution when Germany takes over the EU’s rotating presidency next January.|AD|

Her efforts are likely to be met with strong opposition from secular France and increasingly secular Britain.

The 2004 negotiations on the constitution were stunted by differences over whether or not references to Christianity would upset Europe’s Muslim and Jewish populations.

The “intense” talks between Merkel and the pope, meanwhile, were dominated by developments in the Middle East and Iran.

"We had a very intense exchange on world politics, especially on the Middle East, but also on how the international community should deal with Iran," Merkel said after the hour-long audience which she described as "very impressive”, reported German news agency Deutsche Welle.

She added: "I was longing to pay this visit to the pope before he comes to Germany in September," she said before the visit. "I'm very glad that it will happen now. The pope is a great leader of Christianity to which my protestant faith also belongs. But I'm also here to express the respect of all Germans which I represent as German chancellor."

The German chancellor’s meeting with the pope comes ahead of the pontiff’s visit to Germany from 9th to 14th September.