A Sudanese mother who was handed a death sentence for renouncing Islam has had an audience with the Pope in the Vatican.

Meriam Yahia Ibrahim was convicted of apostasy by a Sudanese court.

Her plight caused global outrage and she was eventually released.

Under Sudanese law she is a Muslim because her father is a Muslim and therefore forbidden to convert.

She says she was raised by her Christian mother and has since married a Christian man.

When she and her family tried to leave Sudan last month she was arrested and has since spent time in the US embassy in Khartoum.

Only last week her father filed a lawsuit to have her marriage annulled.

She will now remain in Italy before leaving for the US to begin a new life.