The Pope received the Prince couple of Monaco
Prince Albert II of Monaco and his wife, Princess Charlene, were received for nearly half an hour by the Holy Father at the Apostolic Palace on Wednesday July 20.
Delphine Allaire – Vatican City
It was the Library of the Apostolic Palace that hosted the meeting in the Vatican between Pope Francis and the authorities of the Principality of Monaco, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene. Approximately half an hour of private audience, followed by the presentation of the other representatives of the main delegation, then the traditional exchange of gifts.
Traditional gift exchange
The Successor of Peter presented the Monegasque sovereigns with a work of art in bronze representing a child helping another to get up, with the inscription Amare Aiutare (Love, Help). He also offered them volumes of pontifical documents – this year’s Message for Peace, the Document on Human Fraternity and the book on the Statio Orbis of March 27, 2020, published by the Vatican Publishing House. The princely couple in turn presented the Sovereign Pontiff with an engraving representing the chapel of the Palace of Monaco.
The princely family was regularly the host of the sovereign pontiffs. Rainier III and Princess Grace were received at the Vatican by Pius XII in 1957, by John XXIII in 1959 and then by Paul VI in 1974. In 2005, the young Prince Albert II made his first public appearance in his new role at the occasion of the funeral of Saint John Paul II.
Last summer, in July 2021, the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, visited the Principality of Monaco on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Convention signed between the Holy See and the princely State .