VATICAN:Pope Benedict will tomorrow meet the parents of a four-year-old British girl snatched from a Portuguese holiday resort three weeks ago, the Vatican has confirmed.
Fr Federico Lombardi, the chief Vatican spokesman, said yesterday the pope would greet Kate and Gerry McCann at the end of his weekly general audience in St Peter's Square.
Traditionally, such meetings take place in front of St Peter's Basilica when the pope greets people in the front rows of a special section near the papal platform and are not considered private audiences.
A spokesperson for the family also confirmed the meeting would take place.
Since Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3rd, her distraught parents, both Catholics, have worked hard to raise public awareness of the case.
The parents have said they hoped to draw profound strength from a papal audience and that it would help to publicise the campaign to bring Madeleine home.
Britain has been gripped by the McCann's tragedy and photographs of the blonde-haired child have rarely been off the front pages of British newspapers since her abduction.
She was snatched in the evening from a holiday resort apartment as her parents ate at a restaurant about 100m away, in sight of the apartment.
Meanwhile, 200 commercial radio stations across Britain yesterday joined forces to keep attention focused on the missing four-year-old.
The stations played a special version of the Simple Minds song Don't You Forget About Me shortly after 8am.
The song featured audio clips and was inspired by a video shown at the recent Uefa Cup final in Glasgow. - (Reuters, PA)