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.
According to ABC News, Mr Albanese and the pope discussed their shared concerns about conflicts around the world and the humanitarian catastrophes they have wrought.
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.
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.
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”.