ROME – In his first visit to Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Pope Leo XIV conveyed a vision largely shared by his predecessor, calling for care of migrants and creation, condemning low European birth rates, and making an appeal for the strengthening of multilateralism.

During his Oct. 14 visit to the Quirinal Palace, the official residence of the president of the Italian Republic, Pope Leo also made an appeal for peace and justice, and for the respect of human dignity amid various social challenges.

After a brief private meeting with Mattarella, 84, the pope spoke about the Christian roots of Italy and thanked the Italian State for its efforts in organizing the city for Pope Francis’s funeral and the subsequent conclave, as well as the ongoing jubilee year.

He noted that in four years, in 2029, Italy and the Holy See will mark the centenary anniversary of the Lateran Pacts, which established Vatican City as a sovereign state, and which governs relations between the Holy See and Italy.

This anniversary, Leo said, is an occasion for both states to respect one another’s sovereignty while also collaborating with one another to promote the common good.

Pope Leo said this must always be done “at the service of the human person, whose inviolable dignity must always remain at the forefront of decision-making and action at all levels of social development, especially in defending the most fragile and needy.”

To this end, he urged continued mutual commitment and collaboration “in full respect” of the 1984 Concordat, which revised the Lateran Treaty, among other things removing Italy’s ability to approve episcopal nominations and granting the Catholic Church greater freedom to operate while also creating a new system of state funding for religious entities through Italy’s taxation system.

Leo lamented the many conflicts raging in the world, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, urging all parties to evaluate the human cost by looking “at the faces of those crushed by the irrational ferocity of those who mercilessly plan death and destruction.”

“Let us listen to their cry,” he said, adding, “every human being is a person, that is, a nature endowed with intelligence and free will, and therefore is the subject of rights and duties that flow immediately and simultaneously from his very nature – rights and duties which are thus universal, inviolable, inalienable.”

He asked that the Holy See and Italy work together for peace and the promotion of the principles of justice, equity, and cooperation among peoples. He also thanked Italy for its efforts to assist children affected by war and poverty, especially those from Gaza, in collaboration with the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu children’s hospital.

Echoing a message frequently uttered by his predecessor, Pope Francis, Leo issued an appeal for multilateralism, saying it is a priority that the Holy See and Italy have always shared and which “is an essential value.”

“The complex challenges of our time make it more necessary than ever to seek and adopt shared solutions,” he said, saying it is “indispensable to strengthen its dynamics and processes, recalling its original objectives – to resolve conflicts and to foster development – while promoting transparent language and avoiding ambiguities that can lead to division.”

Leo noted that 2026 will mark the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi, and called the landmark an occasion to renew the commitment to care for creation.

“I believe Italy has received, in a special way, the mission of transmitting to the nations a culture that recognizes the earth as a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us,” he said.

The pope also lamented, as Francis often did, the declining birth rate in Europe, saying it is a crisis that requires “a concerted effort to promote choices at all levels in favor of the family – supporting its efforts, promoting its values, and protecting its needs and rights.”

Invoking the importance of family in Italian culture, he said that Italian tradition in this regard is naturally filled with the values of love, respect, and dedication for the good of the family and community, which he said benefits society as a whole.

As someone who chose his papal name in part due to workers’ rights amid the revolution of artificial intelligence, Pope Leo also stressed the importance of dignified work, saying it is “indispensable” for families, especially the young, “so that they may look to the future with serenity and grow in harmony.”

Leo then called for the protection of all life from conception to death, and for greater accessibility to medicines and medical care.

He also thanked Italy for its welcome of migrants and its efforts to fight human trafficking, which he said are among the greatest modern challenges, “and Italy has never turned away from them.”

“I encourage you to keep alive your attitude of openness and solidarity,” he said, and stressed the need for proper integration of migrants into Italian culture and society, “so that the mutual gift realized in this encounter of peoples may truly enrich and benefit all.”

“In this regard, I stress how precious it is for everyone to love and share their own history and culture, with its signs and expressions. The more one serenely recognizes and loves who one is, the easier it is to encounter and integrate the other – without fear and with an open heart,” he said.

Echoing a message of his predecessor but also a concern consistently articulated by Eupope’s bishops, the pope cautioned against losing Italy’s cultural roots and the Christian values that have long characterized Italian society.

|Let us not disdain what our forebears lived and handed down to us, often at great cost. Let us not be seduced by homogenizing and fluid models that promote only the appearance of freedom, while in fact rendering people dependent on new forms of control – whether fashions of the moment, commercial strategies, or otherwise,” he said.

Pope Leo insisted that honoring those who came before and treasuring longstanding cultural traditions “have made us who we are is essential for facing the present and the future with awareness, serenity, responsibility, and perspective.”

He closed his speech thanking those present for their attendance and encouraging Italians to rediscover the beauty of their country.

“I encourage all Italians to undertake this beautiful adventure, in order to draw from it hope, and to face with confidence the challenges of the present and the future,” he said.

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