Pomp, pageantry as Pope Leo crosses Rome on first trip abroad

Rome: Pope Leo XVI did not go far afield for his first official trip abroad Tuesday - making his way in a motorcade from Vatican City through Rome to visit Italy’s president.

The head of the Catholic Church was driven through the centre of Rome escorted by the presidential guard cavalry and motorcycles in a slow three-kilometre procession to the Quirinale Palace.

In an ornate ballroom, a red-and-gold-attired Leo urged Italy to “keep alive your attitude of openness and solidarity” towards migrants, calling migration “among the great challenges of our time”.

“I express gratitude for the generous assistance this country offers to migrants who increasingly knock at its doors, as well as for its efforts in combating human trafficking,” said the pope, while citing the need for “constructive integration of newcomers into the values and traditions of Italian society.”

Among those in attendance was Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose hard-right government has taken a hard line against illegal migration to the country, seeking to restrict departures from North Africa to Italy’s shores while attempting to increase repatriations.

The 70-year-old pope thanked Italy for its care for children of Gaza, some 200 of whom have been treated in Rome’s hospitals since the beginning of the war in 2023.

He also defended the Church’s position on abortion and euthanasia, recalling the need “to uphold and protect life in all its phases, from conception to old age, until the moment of death.”

Close diplomatic relations between Italy and Vatican City - the world’s smallest state that is surrounded by the city of Rome - are governed by the 1929 Lateran Agreements.

Built in the 16th century, the Quirinal Palace served for three centuries as a papal residence until 1870, when it became the home of the first king of a unified Italy, Victor Emmanuel II.