Castel Gandolfo, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday met Bahrain's King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa thanking him for the "welcome he has shown to many Christian immigrants," a Vatican statement said.

For his part, Al-Khalifa invited the pontiff to visit the mostly Muslim island-state of Bahrain.

The pontiff, who since last week has been staying in his summer residence of Castel Gandolfo in the hills south of Rome, received the monarch for morning talks.

Al-Khalifa also held a separate meeting with the Vatican's equivalent of a foreign minister, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti.

"In the course of the discussions, which took place in a cordial atmosphere," a Vatican statement said.

The talks stressed the "importance of collaboration between Christians, Muslims and Jews for the promotion - in the Middle East and throughout the world - of peace, justice and spiritual and moral values" the Vatican statement said.

Bahrain's official religion is Islam, which is followed by 80 percent of the country's population of some one million. Christians are estimated to number around 100,000 and are mostly immigrants from India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. (dpa)