Italy’s new rightist PM Meloni gets ‘cordial discussion’ with the Pope

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.
In a tweet, she said it had been “an honour and a strong
emotion to have the chance to talk to the Holy Father on the big
issues of our time.”
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.
“I admit that I have not always understood Pope Francis,”
Meloni wrote in her 2021 autobiography, in which she expressed a
preference for the late Pope John Paul II.
She added that she hoped to be able to meet Francis “one
day”, as “his big eyes and his straight talk would be able to
give a meaning to what I cannot comprehend”.
On Tuesday the pair 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 talked about “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
six-year-old daughter.
Following tradition, she and the pope exchanged gifts,
including an angel statuette that Meloni – a collector of the
items – gave to Francis.