VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Italy’s new rightist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met Pope Francis and top Vatican officials on Tuesday, holding what the Holy See called “cordial discussions.”
Meloni, who took office in October at the helm of the most right-wing government in Italy’s postwar history, is a staunch Catholic conservative.
The 45-year-old politician is opposed to abortion, suspicious of LGBT rights, and has famously defined herself as “a mother”, “an Italian” and “a Christian.”
Nevertheless, there are also potential fault lines between her and the pope, as Francis is a vocal defender of migrants’ rights while she advocates tough border policies.
She and Francis met for 35 minutes, after which Meloni spoke to Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister.
“During the cordial discussions,” Meloni, Parolin and Gallagher discussed “a number of issues relating to the Italian social situation”, including poverty, family issues, education and the demographic crisis, a Vatican statement said.
They also talked about Europe, Ukraine and migration, the statement added, without going into details.
Meloni went into the papal meeting dressed in black, accompanied by her unmarried partner, a TV journalist, and their pre-teenage daughter.
Following tradition, she and the pope exchanged gifts, including an angel statuette that Meloni – a collector of the items – gave to Francis.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by William Maclean)
