Leo XIV received Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on July 2, 2025. This was the first official audience granted to the country’s head of government since the election of the new pontiff on May 8. During the morning at the Vatican, the politician and representatives of the Vatican diplomatic corps discussed the commitment to peace in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The subject of their meeting hasn't been disclosed, but their past communications have been about diplomacy regarding Ukraine and Gaza, and Italian politics.
Giorgia Meloni came to the Vatican accompanied by the Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Alfredo Mantovano, and the two Deputy Prime Ministers, Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini.
According to a video released by the Holy See Press Office, Leo XIV received Giorgia Meloni in his private library in the Apostolic Palace, as is customary for heads of state.
The Catholic politician presented the Pontiff with a 17th-century engraving depicting the Angelicum, the pontifical university where Cardinal Prevost studied in his youth.
The Vatican has not disclosed the content of their private meeting.
Repeated encounters regarding international diplomacy
Since the beginning of the pontificate, Giorgia Meloni has already greeted the new pope twice, briefly.
They first crossed paths during the inaugural Mass of the pontificate on May 18, and then on the occasion of the jubilee of public authorities on June 22.
They also spoke by telephone on May 15 about the possibility of mediation for peace in Ukraine — which was subsequently rejected by Moscow — and about the challenge of artificial intelligence.
During her visit to the Vatican on Wednesday, Meloni also met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States. According to the Holy See's statement, these exchanges in the Secretariat of State were an opportunity to discuss the joint commitment between the Vatican and Italy to “peace in Ukraine and the Middle East and humanitarian assistance to Gaza.”
Meloni and the Holy See’s diplomats also addressed “issues relating to bilateral relations and topics of common interest to the Church and Italian society,” according to the statement, which did not provide further details.
Discussions regarding Italian legislation
The daily newspaper La Repubblica recently cited several current issues that could be the subject of these bilateral discussions: end-of-life care (a bill is currently being negotiated by the government), the Italian tax mechanism known as “l’otto per mille” (which benefits the Catholic Church, among others, and is the subject of controversy), and collaboration on a solar power plant on the grounds of Santa Maria di Galeria, a property of the Holy See north of Rome.
Meloni was one of the last political leaders to meet Pope Francis. On February 19, she visited him at Gemelli Hospital, where he was being treated for a serious respiratory infection. “He hasn’t lost his proverbial sense of humor,” she said in a statement after their last meeting. The Argentine pontiff died two months later, on April 21.
Before the Prime Minister, Leo XIV received the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, on June 7.
