Rome (dpa) – Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s two-day visit to Italy included a meeting with Pope Francis. According to the Chancellor, the half-hour conversation with the head of more than 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide focused on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East as well as the question of how to deal with migration. Scholz said it was a “crucial exchange at a time when it is important for us to look clearly ahead to the future based on sound principles”.
At the start of his trip to Italy, the Federal Chancellor met Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella in Rome. Mattarella emphasised the “extraordinarily stable relations” between Germany and Italy, in particular in view of the action plan recently signed by Scholz and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni aiming to further boost cooperation. Scholz also gave a speech at the congress of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in Rome. No meeting with Meloni was planned since she is currently visiting the USA.
