Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met privately with Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, formally inviting the new pontiff to Australia for a major Catholic conference that Sydney will host in 2028.
Mr Albanese met Leo XIV the day after the new pope’s inaugural mass in Rome, hours after the pontiff met US Vice-President JD Vance.
He is the first prime minister to have a private audience with the pope since Kevin Rudd, who met Pope Benedict XVI in 2008.
The ABC has been told that Mr Albanese and the pope discussed their shared concerns about conflicts around the world and the humanitarian catastrophes they have wrought.
The pontiff was presented with artwork by Indigenous artist Amanda Westley. (Supplied: Vatican Media)
The pope also blessed rosary beads that had been owned by the prime minister’s mother Maryanne, a staunch Catholic who passed away in 2002.
On Sunday Pope Leo XIV called for peace in Gaza, Myanmar and Ukraine during a Sunday blessing at the end of his inaugural mass in St Peter’s Square.
Leo said he hoped negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv would bring a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine and offered prayers for the people of Gaza who were “reduced to hunger” by conflict.
During their meeting on Monday local time, Mr Albanese gifted the new pope a framed Indigenous artwork by artist Amanda Westley, who is part of the Ngarrindjeri clan in South Australia.
It is the first meeting between an Australian prime minister and the head of the Catholic Church since 2008. (Supplied: Vatican Media)
The prime minister also issued a formal letter of invitation to Pope Leo XIV to attend the International Eucharistic Congress, which Sydney will host in 2028.
The congress is typically held every four years, and is expected to draw thousands of Catholics from around the world to Australia.
Benedict XVI was the last pope to visit Australia, for World Youth Day in 2008.
The prime minister met with Vatican officials during his brief visit to Europe. (Supplied: Vatican Media)
The prime minister had earlier met briefly with Pope Leo XIV on Sunday after the mass and had a “very warm” discussion before their longer meeting on Monday afternoon.
Mr Albanese said that during that brief discussion, the pope had “expressed his affection for Australia”.
He said he had told Leo that Australia’s 5 million Catholics “would be watching and wishing him well”.
Pope Leo XIV was formally inaugurated earlier this week. (AP Photo: Alessandra Tarantino)
The prime minister also reflected briefly on his own personal Catholic faith and history, saying his late mother would have been delighted to see him attend the Papal Inauguration mass as prime minister.
“I spoke to him about my mother [who] would be 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 really quite extraordinary” he said.
“So, for me, it was a very personal moment as well, and it was a personal discussion.”
The prime minister has now left Rome and will stop off in Singapore for a lightning-quick meeting with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong before returning home.
