On April 26, 2013, Pope Francis met with Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Monti. The Prime Minister, who was accompanied by his wife Elsa, met with Pope Francis for about 20 minutes. The meeting came just two days before Monti completed his term as the technocrat Prime Minister of Italy appointed by Italy’s president, Giorgio Napolitano, to deal with Italy’s economic crisis.
The Vatican said that the discussions centered around the situation in Italy, European Integration, and immigration. Italy has had a period of political and economic instability like many other Catholic and Orthodox nations of the southern periphery of the European Union. Monti helped steer Italy’s economy through this period with a measure of austerity and a focus on the main objective of the European Union; the resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire.
Italy and the Holy See are deeply integrated in many ways, especially economically, though the Holy See is a separate nation state. Many things that happen in Italy affect the Vatican.
European integration is linking the nations together under a centralize government in Brussels. The Vatican is assisting this process through its Jesuit-trained leaders, like Monti.
The two men exchanged gifts.
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