Mexico invites pope to October meeting

The government has formally invited Pope John Paul II to make a sixth visit to Mexico to attend the World Eucharistic Congress in October.

Interior Secretary Santiago Creel announced the invitation during a meeting Tuesday with Mexican bishops at a retreat outside of Mexico City. He also said that the country plans to review laws on religious freedom as part of a broader move to strengthen human rights.

The World Eucharistic Congress, held every four years, is a massive gathering in which Catholics celebrate their faith and unity. The most recent one was held in Rome.

Creel said that Mexico would receive the pope "with great happiness, as a government, if the Holy Father makes the decision to come to our country." Creel's office distributed a text of his remarks late Tuesday.

Papal Nuncio Giuseppe Bertellosaod last year that the pope might attend the Congress in the north-central city of Guadalajara, to be held Oct. 10-17, despite health problems including Parkinson's disease that have forced the pontiff to trim his agenda.

Creel also announced that President Vicente Fox's government would form a working group to meet with religious leaders, parties and other people on possible changes to laws on religion.

A series of reforms since 1988 have dramatically reduced restrictions imposed on the church during a long, sometimes bloody struggle between church and state that began in the mid-19th century.

But laws still require religious institutions to be registered with the government, forbid priests and ministers from getting involved in politics and ban religious groups from owning broadcast outlets - a sore point with Roman Catholic leaders.