The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh received a gift for Prince George during their private, half-hour audience with the Pope
The Queen with Pope Francis during their one-day visit to the Vatican Photo: REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini
The Queen has met Pope Francis for the first time during a five hour visit to Rome, receiving a gift for Prince George from the pontiff.
After lunch with President Giorgio Napolitano in the Quirinale palace, the Queen crossed the Tiber for a private audience with the Pope, who gave her a blue orb decorated with a silver cross for her eight-month-old grandson.
It is the Queen's first visit to Rome in 14 years. She was welcomed by an honour guard of Sardinian grenadiers, Carabinieri cavalry, navy and air force, and given a bouquet of flowers by an eight-year-old girl.
The Queen wore a lilac coat and matching hat and was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh. She was later pictured chatting to Mr Napolitano, 87, with whom she is said to have a friendly relationship.
The visit was agreed amid assurances that the Holy See would remain neutral on the contentious issue of the Falkland Islands.
Pope Francis (AP)
The Pope recently had a lengthy meeting with Cristina Kirchner, the president of Argentina, who has called on her countryman to intercede in the dispute with the UK over the British territory in the South Atlantic.
Officials would not say whether the Queen and Pope Francis would discuss the islands but Nigel Baker, the British ambassador to the Holy See, said the Vatican had restated its neutral position on the dispute.
"The Vatican has been clear with us, including in the last week and at a very senior level, that their long-standing position of neutrality on this issue remains in force," he said.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio backed calls for the islands to be ceded to Argentina.
Two years ago he said that the Argentinean soldiers who died in the war had been trying to "defend the homeland, to reclaim what is theirs" and that Britain had "usurped" the islands.
The orb Pope Francis gave the Queen (GETTY IMAGES)
The South American pontiff also recently met a group of 12 Argentine veterans of the 1982 war, who came to the Vatican holding banners calling for "peace in the South Atlantic".
That message accords with the position of the Argentine government, which argues that Britain is in breach of what it says should be a demilitarised zone around the Falklands.
The meeting with the Pope was said by officials to be "informal" with minimal protocol. Instead of taking place amid the grandeur of the Apostolic Palace, it was held in the Pope's study, not far from Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel for visiting prelates in which he lives.
It was the Queen's seventh encounter with a pontiff. She previously met Pius XII when she was the Princess Royal in 1951, John XXIII in 1961, John Paul II in 1980, 1982 and 2000, and Benedict XVI during his visit to the UK in 2010. Five of those encounters took place in Rome.
The meeting comes during the centenary of Britain re-establishing relations with the Holy See in 1914, centuries after the schism caused by Henry VIII's divorce.
The Queen with Pope Francis during their one-day visit to the Vatican Photo: REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini
The Queen has met Pope Francis for the first time during a five hour visit to Rome, receiving a gift for Prince George from the pontiff.
After lunch with President Giorgio Napolitano in the Quirinale palace, the Queen crossed the Tiber for a private audience with the Pope, who gave her a blue orb decorated with a silver cross for her eight-month-old grandson.
It is the Queen's first visit to Rome in 14 years. She was welcomed by an honour guard of Sardinian grenadiers, Carabinieri cavalry, navy and air force, and given a bouquet of flowers by an eight-year-old girl.
The Queen wore a lilac coat and matching hat and was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh. She was later pictured chatting to Mr Napolitano, 87, with whom she is said to have a friendly relationship.
The visit was agreed amid assurances that the Holy See would remain neutral on the contentious issue of the Falkland Islands.
Pope Francis (AP)
The Pope recently had a lengthy meeting with Cristina Kirchner, the president of Argentina, who has called on her countryman to intercede in the dispute with the UK over the British territory in the South Atlantic.
Officials would not say whether the Queen and Pope Francis would discuss the islands but Nigel Baker, the British ambassador to the Holy See, said the Vatican had restated its neutral position on the dispute.
"The Vatican has been clear with us, including in the last week and at a very senior level, that their long-standing position of neutrality on this issue remains in force," he said.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio backed calls for the islands to be ceded to Argentina.
Two years ago he said that the Argentinean soldiers who died in the war had been trying to "defend the homeland, to reclaim what is theirs" and that Britain had "usurped" the islands.
The orb Pope Francis gave the Queen (GETTY IMAGES)
The South American pontiff also recently met a group of 12 Argentine veterans of the 1982 war, who came to the Vatican holding banners calling for "peace in the South Atlantic".
That message accords with the position of the Argentine government, which argues that Britain is in breach of what it says should be a demilitarised zone around the Falklands.
The meeting with the Pope was said by officials to be "informal" with minimal protocol. Instead of taking place amid the grandeur of the Apostolic Palace, it was held in the Pope's study, not far from Casa Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel for visiting prelates in which he lives.
It was the Queen's seventh encounter with a pontiff. She previously met Pius XII when she was the Princess Royal in 1951, John XXIII in 1961, John Paul II in 1980, 1982 and 2000, and Benedict XVI during his visit to the UK in 2010. Five of those encounters took place in Rome.
The meeting comes during the centenary of Britain re-establishing relations with the Holy See in 1914, centuries after the schism caused by Henry VIII's divorce.
Post a Comment