The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, announced this Wednesday, April 15, that the institution has renewed its invitation to Pope Leo XIV to intervene in an upcoming plenary session.
Through a message published on the social network X, Metsola highlighted the figure of the Pontiff not only as the leader of the Catholic Church, but as a moral reference in the current context.
As explained by the President of the European Parliament, the contact with the Holy See has been made on behalf of the institution to reiterate the formal invitation to the Pope.
Metsola emphasized that the voice of Leo XIV is heard and respected “by Europeans of all confessions—and also by those who profess none—”, at a time she described as needing “moral courage and clarity”.
The objective, she added, is to be able to welcome the Pontiff in the near future and listen to his message addressed to Europe.
An institutional relationship already underway
The invitation is framed within an institutional relationship already consolidated in recent months. According to Vatican News reported a few months ago, Metsola was received by Pope Leo XIV in January at the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, in an audience in which both parties addressed the need to promote peace through dialogue.
After the meeting, the President of the European Parliament thanked the Pontiff for his “clarity of intentions” and highlighted the shared reflections on Europe’s role in building peace, in a context marked by multiple international conflicts.
In recent weeks, the Pontiff has reiterated his rejection of war and expressed his concern for the situation in Gaza, describing the humanitarian conditions as “unacceptable”, while calling for a peaceful solution to the escalation around Iran, a fact that has transcended the statements of Donald Trump and the responses of various European leaders.