Rome - "France, eldest daughter of the Church, what have you done to your baptismal promises? asked Pope John Paul II when he made his first visit to France in 1981.

The Polish pope was honouring France with the title it earned upon becoming the first Christian kingdom following the baptism of King Clovis of the Franks in 496 A. D.

But John Paul was also admonishing modern French society in which Christianity, and in particular the majority Roman Catholic faith, appeared to be losing their importance.

Vatican City  - Pope Benedict XVI, speaking Wednesday two days before his first visit to France as pontiff, praised the French people for their "generous tradition of hospitality and tolerance."

"On the eve of my arrival (in France) I wish to send a cordial greeting to the French people and all the inhabitants of this beloved nation," Benedict said at the end of his traditional mid-week general audience at the Vatican.

Paris-  French police have placed radical gay militants under surveillance ahead of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to France on September 12-15, the daily Le Figaro reported on Wednesday.

Eager to avoid a repeat of the condom shower that greeted the Pope in Sydney, Australia, in July, certain gay activist groups such as Act Up are being closely watched in the run-up to the visit.

Castel Gandolfo, Italy - Pope Benedict XVI on Monday received former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, who since she was liberated in July, had expressed a desire to thank the pontiff in person for his support.

The Franco-Colombian Betancourt, accompanied by her mother, Yolanda Pulecio, met Benedict for private talks at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

Pulecio had met Benedict in January when the pontiff made one of his several appeals for the release of hostages in Colombia where leftist FARC rebels kept Betancourt captive for over six years.

London, August 29: Despite being condemned by Pope Benedict, a sculpture of a crucified frog displayed in the inaugural exhibition of the Bolzano’s new modern art museum will continue to be exhibited.

The decision has been taken by the museum’s governing committed “by a clear majority”.

The sculpture was made by late German artist Martin Kippenberger. It features a lurid green frog nailed to a cross with its tongue hanging out, but holding a foaming tankard of beer in one hand and an egg in the other.