PM meets Pope Leo
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met privately with Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met privately with Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, formally inviting the new pontiff to Australia for the 54th International Eucharistic Congress that Sydney will host in 2028.
Mr Albanese met Leo XIV the day after the new pope’s inaugural mass in Rome, hours after the pontiff met US Vice-President JD Vance. He is the first prime minister to have a private audience with the pope since Kevin Rudd, who met Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.
It is understood that Mr Albanese and the pope discussed their shared concerns about conflicts around the world and the humanitarian catastrophes they have wrought.
The pope also blessed rosary beads that had been owned by the prime minister’s mother Maryanne, a staunch Catholic who passed away in 2002.
This year marks 55 years since the first Papal Visit to Australia by Pope Paul VI in 1970.
Source: ABC
