It was another busy Saturday in the Vatican as Pope Francis received German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a private audience. Earlier he had met with pilgrims from the Diocese of Cassano all'Jonio in Calabria, pilgrims to whom he repeated his bitter condemnation of organised crime, first expressed in a visit to Calabria last year.
Ms Merkel had a 40 minute long audience - unusually long for papal audiences - with the Pope in the Pontifical Library. After, she met with the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, before visiting the Communita di Sant’Egidio, the Rome-based lay movement much involved in charity works and ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue.
Speaking after the mission, Ms Merkel, who had travelled to Rome exclusively to meet the Pope, told reporters the main purpose of her visit had been to outline the agenda for the upcoming G7 summit, due to be held in Munich in early June. The fact that the agenda puts the emphasis on the elimination of poverty was “of particular importance for the Pope and the Catholic Church”, she added.
The Vatican issued a communique in which it stated the Pope and the Chancellor had discussed “various questions of an international nature, with particular reference to the struggle against poverty and hunger”.
Women's rights, world health issues and, inevitably, the current situation in Ukraine, also featured in their lengthy chat during which the Pope spoke in Italian and the Chancellor in German, with both of them aided by an interpreter.
When it came to the ritual exchange of gifts at the end of this third meeting between Ms Merkel and the Pope, the German leader offered the Pope not only a collection Bach CDs but also a white envelope containing money, intended for child refugees from Syria and Iraq. Talking to reporters later, the Chancellor called the plight of the growing number of boat people who arrive on the shores of Italy "simply unacceptable".
Earlier in the day, Pope Francis had received a “return” visit from the parishoners of the diocese of Cassano all’Jonio in Calabria, a region hit hard by the maleficent influence of the local mafia, the ‘nDrangheta.
When Francis travelled to Cassano all’Jonio last year, he had excommunicated all mafiosi. Receiving a “return” visit from the parishoners today, he said:
“Those who love Jesus, who hear and receive the Word and live in a sincere response to the call of the Lord cannot in any way give themselves over to works of evil...They cannot call themselves Christians and violate the dignity of person; those who belong to the Christian community cannot program or carry out gestures of violence against others and against the environment.”
Starting as of tomorrow, the Pope and some 80 members of the Roman Curia will go on the traditional Lenten spiritual retreat, held in a retreat house in Ariccia, 25 kms south of Rome in the Alban Hills. Accordingly, the Pope will have no public engagements until next Sunday week.
