Prime Minister
Giorgia Meloni in the Vatican with her family
, her daughter Ginevra and her partner Andrea Giambruno, for the meeting with Pope Francis.
The face-to-face between the Pope and the Prime Minister lasted 35 minutes.
Giorgia Meloni was welcomed in the courtyard of San Damaso, where the Swiss guards were lined up in the honor guard, by the regent of the papal household, father Leonardo Sapienza.
Also waiting for her, before the scheduled meeting with the Pope, was the Italian ambassador to the Holy See, Francesco Di Nitto.
"Today in audience with His Holiness in the Vatican. An honor and a strong emotion to have the opportunity to dialogue with the Holy Father on the great issues of our time".
Her premier, Giorgia Meloni, writes it on twitter by posting a photo of her with her daughter Ginevra and Pope Francis next to her.
Today in audience with His Holiness @Pontifex_it in the Vatican.
An honor and a strong emotion to have the opportunity to dialogue with the Holy Father on the great issues of our time.
pic.twitter.com/4t59MG4UDA
— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) January 10, 2023
Issues related to "the fight against poverty, the family, the demographic phenomenon and the education of young people" and among those of an international nature, Europe, Ukraine and migrants, were at the center of the talks between Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Secretariat of Vatican State, in the context of the audience with Pope Francis. The Vatican reports it.
Meloni in the Vatican for the private audience with Pope Francis
Meloni gave the Pope a copy of "The Holy Mass explained to children" by Maria Montessori, from 1955, a small volume containing "The Canticle of the Creatures" and "The Little Flowers" by Saint Francis of Assisi, from 1920 and an angel from his private collection.
Instead, the Pontiff gave Meloni a bronze work entitled "Social Love", depicting a child who helps another to get up, with the inscription "Amare Help".
Pope Francis also gave the premier some documents: this year's Message for Peace, the Document on Human Fraternity, the book on the Statio Orbis of 27 March 2020, the volume on the Pontifical Apartment and the book "An Encyclical on peace in Ukraine".
At 12:00 the premier will meet the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, at Palazzo Chigi.
Press releases are expected at the end of the visit.
ANSA agency
Italy-Japan: Kishida at Palazzo Chigi meets Meloni - Politics
The Prime Minister of Japan at Palazzo Chigi (ANSA)
The Council of Ministers will be held in the late afternoon, at 18.30.
