According to a report in this week’s The Irish Catholic, President Mary McAleese is to meet the Pope on 23rd March on her first official State visit to the Vatican.This would be the President’s third meeting with the Pontiff since his election in 2005.
A spokesperson for the President told ciNews that the President will be visiting Italy from 20th March, stopping initially in Milan, before travelling to Rome on 21st March for three days.
‘The programme is at the planning stage and being finalised in conjunction with the Department of Foreign Affairs,’ said Gráinne Mooney, press officer to the President, who would not confirm that the President would meet the Pope, but said a visit 'would be explored any time she goes to Rome'.
The President met the Pope on the day of his inauguration on the 24th April 2005 and again in a private capacity with her family on the 9th of July 2005.
According to The Irish Catholic, she will be meeting the Pope in his private apartment on the morning of Friday 23rd March at 11.00am. She is also due to meet with senior officials at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State including Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
The President will present the Pope with a gift from the people of Ireland.
Late last year Archbishop Seán Brady, on behalf of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, invited the Pope to Ireland. So far he has neither accepted or declined the invitation.
The Taoiseach and Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern have already held separate private meetings with Pope Benedict in Rome. During his meeting with the Taoiseach the Pope raised a number of issues including the peace process and the ongoing process of European integration.
As regards trips abroad, in 2007 Pope Benedict plans to travel to Brazil in mid-May to open a meeting of the Latin American bishops' council, or CELAM, and to Austria in September for a Marian pilgrimage.
There's also a chance the Pope may visit the United Nations. An informal invitation has been floated and the Pope is said to be considering it -- the most likely hypothesis would be a visit in late September to address the opening of the UN General Assembly.
A trip back to his native Germany is also on the cards, this time in the capital Berlin, and the Pope is likely to make several trips in Italy, including a pilgrimage in June to Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis.
In 2008, he will travel to Sydney for World Youth Day in July.
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