Albanese invites Pope Leo XIV to visit Australia in private meeting at the Vatican

Rome: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has held a private audience with Pope Leo XIV to invite the pontiff to visit Australia, while discussing topics ranging from religious freedom to global conflict.

The rare one-on-one talks, the first for an Australian prime minister in 16 years, included a deeply personal moment when Albanese asked the Pope to bless his mother’s rosary beads.

The meeting came during a day of intense diplomacy at the Vatican, including a meeting between Leo and US Vice President J.D. Vance, and highlighted the influence of the Catholic Church leader one day after an inaugural mass to begin his papacy.

During the private audience which lasted for about 45 minutes, the prime minister took his mother’s rosary beads into the meeting and asked the Pope to bless them; his mother Maryanne, who died in 2002, was a devoted Catholic. The pontiff held the beads and gave them a blessing.

Albanese also presented Leo with an artwork by Indigenous artist Amanda Westley from the Ngarrindjeri community in South Australia. The pontiff reciprocated the gift with an artwork depicting the impact of climate change on the planet.

The private audience on Monday was added to Albanese’s agenda at short notice, after intense diplomatic lobbying, and was held at the Apostolic Palace inside Vatican City, allowing the two to speak without others present.

Pope Leo greets Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a private meeting at the Vatican.Credit: Vatican Media

Albanese had met Leo briefly on Sunday at St Peter’s Basilica alongside other world leaders, after the inauguration Mass attended by an estimated 150,000 people.

He also met Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the top diplomat in the Vatican in his role as secretary for relations with states and international organisations, and presented him with a bottle of Penfolds Bin 28 Shiraz.

The prime minister held separate talks with Gallagher, and he was joined in the second meeting by the Australian ambassador-designate to the Holy See, former cabinet minister Keith Pitt.

The Australian meeting was one part of an intense round of diplomatic talks at the Vatican, which also included Leo holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday. On Monday he also met with political leaders from Argentina, Colombia and Georgia.

His private audience was Albanese’s first opportunity to personally invite the Pope to visit Australia for a major Catholic gathering in Sydney in 2028.

Leo has travelled several times to Australia as head of the Order of St Augustine, raising hopes among Catholic Church leaders that he would be willing to attend the International Eucharistic Congress then.

Speaking one day before the private audience, Albanese recounted some of his remarks with Leo after the inauguration Mass.

“He expressed a warmth about Australia, and I told him that it was a great honour for me to be there,” he said.

“I spoke to him about my mother, [who] is, I’m sure, looking down from heaven with the biggest smile she’s ever had.

“The fact that her son was at the inaugural Mass of a pope in the Vatican, was quite extraordinary.

“He expressed his affection for Australia and I told him that Australia’s 5 million Catholics would be watching and wishing him well in his pontificate.”

Pope Benedict XVI visited Australia for World Youth Day in 2008 and Pope Paul VI made the first papal visit to Australia in 1970 as part of a pilgrimage across Asia and the Pacific. Pope Francis never visited.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in his Akubra at Pope Leo’s inauguration Mass at the Vatican.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Vatican said the discussions were “cordial” in the Secretariat of State, the peak office headed by Gallagher.

“Warm appreciation was expressed for the good bilateral relations between the Holy See and Australia, as well as for the contribution of the Catholic Church in service of society, especially in the educational sphere,” the Vatican said.

“An exchange of views then took place on the socio-political situation of the country, focusing in particular on themes of mutual interest, including environmental protection, integral human development and the freedom of religion.”

The prime minister’s office did not outline any of the details of the talks, such as the nature of the conversation on religious freedom – a subject of dispute in federal parliament since the marriage equality laws were passed in 2017.

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli, who was in Rome for the inaugural Mass, said the reaction to Leo suggested his first message had resonated with people around the world, including Australians.

“People of all kinds see Pope Leo as a leader of the world – not just for Catholics,” he told this masthead.

Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher, also speaking to this masthead in Rome, noted that Leo had come to Australia several times.

“He’s very comfortable in English, it’s his first language, and he’s the first pope that that’s ever been true of – so I think there’ll be a kind of naturalness to coming to Australia,” he said.

“I think there’s a very good chance that he’ll come. I think Australians will welcome him with open arms.”

Pitt said the last time an Australian prime minister had a papal audience was almost 16 years ago.

“Today’s audience between His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and Prime Minister Albanese is an important moment in Australia’s history and our enduring relationship with the Holy See,” he said.

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