Pomp, pageantry as Pope Leo crosses Rome on first journey overseas

Pope Leo XVI didn’t go far afield for his first official journey overseas on Tuesday (October 14, 2025) — making his manner in a motorcade from Vatican City by Rome to go to Italy’s President.

The head of the Catholic Church was pushed by the centre of Rome escorted by the presidential guard calvary and bikes in a gradual three-kilometre procession to the Quirinale Palace.

In an ornate ballroom, a red-and-gold-attired Pope Leo urged Italy to “keep alive your attitude of openness and solidarity” in the direction of 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,” mentioned the Pope, whereas citing the necessity for “constructive integration of newcomers into the values and traditions of Italian society”.

Among these in attendance was Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose hard-right authorities has taken a tough line in opposition to unlawful migration to the nation, in search of to limit departures from North Africa to Italy’s shores whereas trying to extend repatriations.

The 70-year-old pope thanked Italy for its care for youngsters of Gaza, some 200 of whom have been handled in Rome’s hospitals for the reason that starting of the battle in 2023. He additionally defended the Church’s place on abortion and euthanasia, recalling the necessity “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’s surrounded by town of Rome — are ruled by the 1929 Lateran Agreements.

Built within the sixteenth century, the Quirinal Palace served for 3 centuries as a papal residence till 1870, when it grew to become the house of the primary king of a unified Italy, Victor Emmanuel II.