Brazil's President Lula to be Pope's guest next week

Head of state on Twitter: "Next week I'm going to Italy to talk to the Pope" - Italian media also report on Papal audience for Cuba's President Diaz-Canel - No confirmation from the Vatican

Brasilia/Rome, 13/06/2023 (KAP) Brazil's President Lula da Silva plans to visit Pope Francis at the Vatican next week. "Next week I'm going to Italy to talk to the Pope," the politician announced on Tuesday via his official Twitter account. Lula, who has been Brazil's president again since the beginning of the year, is also scheduled to meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome.

The Vatican has not yet officially confirmed the visit. In the past few days, Italian media have also reported that Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel is apparently planning an audience with the Pope on 20 June.

Pope Francis is still in the Gemelli Clinic in Rome after his abdominal surgery last week. At least until next Sunday (18 June), all audiences and public appointments with the 86-year-old head of the Church have been cancelled, according to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

Brazil's President Lula and the Pope had exchanged views on ways to find a peaceful solution to the Ukraine war in a telephone conversation at the end of May. Both heads of state have been trying to mediate between Moscow and Kiev for months.

According to media reports, Lula also invited the Pope to visit Brazil. Francis was last in the South American country in 2013 on the occasion of the World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. At the end of May, the Argentinian newspaper "Clarin" reported that the Pope would also visit Uruguay and southern Brazil in 2024, in addition to Argentina. According to the report, a visit to the Marian pilgrimage site of Aparecida in the greater Sao Paulo area is also being considered.

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