The President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, has met for 45 minutes with the Pope in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican as part of his round of official visits before the end of his term as head of State at the end of January of 2022.
As reported by the Quirinal Palace, headquarters of the Italian State Headquarters, the talks have lasted from 9:20 a.m. to 10:05 a.m. The Pope has presented Mattarella with a copy of his message for the 55th World Day of Peace, which will be celebrated on January 1, 2022, on the feast of the Solemnity of Mary Most Holy, Mother of God, and which has not yet been made public by the Vatican.
It is in this sense an unpublished message. In addition, as usual, he has given him a copy of the most relevant texts of him, such as the document on the Human Fraternity signed in Abu Dhabi on February 4, 2019 by him and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar. Finally, he has given her a ceramic work with the image of St. Peter’s Basilica with a panoramic view of the Vatican Gardens.
For his part, Mattarella has given the Pope a photograph with the views of Rome from the Quirinal Palace and a book on a painting of the Virgin that is kept in the also headquarters of the Head of State, which is also one of the three official residences of the President of the Italian Republic. It was papal residence for three centuries until, under threats, it was yielded to the new sovereign in 1870, Victor Emmanuel II, to be followed by Humberto I, Victor Emmanuel III and Humberto II, and later to the President of the Republic in 1946. The last Pope in inhabiting the palace was Pius IX.
Mattarella has advanced that if a consensus candidate cannot be reached, as happened with Giorgio Napolitano (2006-2015), he could study the possibility of accepting a kind of extension. But he himself has made it clear that it is not the option that he would like.
Mattarella visited Spain at the end of November on his last trip as president of the Republic of Italy to say goodbye to the kings of Spain, Felipe VI and Doña Letizia.
