Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, whose regime has been sanctioned and largely isolated by western governments for atrocities committed in Darfur, on Friday met Pope Benedict XVI and Italy’s prime minister Romano Prodi during a rare visit to Europe.

Both the Vatican and the Italian government sought to fend off criticism for welcoming Mr Bashir - one of whose ministers is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes - by using the opportunity to press him to reach a peace agreement with Darfur’s disparate rebel groups at talks scheduled to be held in Libya next month.