Pope Leo XIV to Visit San Marino, Address Catholic Gathering

Pope Leo XIV is set to visit the small republic of San Marino on Saturday before travelling to Rimini, Italy, for a major Catholic cultural and political gathering.

The pontiff will spend the morning in San Marino, a tiny European republic covering about 60 square kilometres and home to roughly 33,000 people.

During the visit, Leo will meet local authorities before leading a prayer service at the country’s basilica. The trip will mark another short pastoral visit by the pope within Europe this summer.

The visit follows Leo’s trip to Monaco in March. San Marino, surrounded by Italy in the Apennine Mountains, is recognised as the world’s oldest surviving republic.

After his San Marino engagements, the pope will travel to Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic coast. He is expected to attend the annual Rimini Meeting organised by Communion and Liberation, an influential Catholic movement.

The gathering brings together religion, culture and politics and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The event also has historical links to Italy’s former Christian Democratic movement, which dominated the country’s post-war politics for decades.

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Leo is scheduled to address the gathering at 4:00 pm local time. He will become the first pope since John Paul II in 1982 to participate in the event.

Other prominent speakers scheduled for this year’s meeting include Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, as well as Italy’s Deputy Prime Ministers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini.

Before delivering his address, Leo will visit an exhibition focused on Saint Augustine. The fifth-century Christian theologian played a major role in shaping Christian thought and is particularly significant to Leo because he belongs to the Augustinian order.

The pope will also meet people with disabilities and sick members of the Catholic community at Rimini Cathedral. He will later preside over an open-air Mass at the city’s port.

Rather than embarking on long international journeys this summer, Leo has focused on shorter pastoral trips. His recent visits have included Pavia, Lampedusa and Assisi.

The San Marino and Rimini visits will further highlight the pope’s engagement with European Catholic communities, cultural institutions and public leaders.

source: Punch News