Georgia’s President to visit Vatican, meet Pope Francis
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Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili is preparing to visit Vatican City in Rome and meet Pope Francis, the world leader of the Catholic Church.
This news was released by the President’s Administration after Margvelashvili met a Vatican representative today.
Earlier today Margvelashvili met Marek Solchinski, Apostolic Nuncio of the Vatican in Georgia, and discussed details of the President’s upcoming Italy visit.
It was decided President Margvelashvili will go to Vatican City, Rome, in April. The exact date of his visit was not announced.
This will be the first time any of Georgia’s leaders, President or Prime Minister, has met Pope Francis.
Pope Francis’ papacy began on March 13, 2013. He was born in 1936 with the name Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina.
Pope Francis will visit Georgia in late September, the Vatican has confirmed. The visit will be part of the Pope’s Caucasus tour, which will involve Azerbaijan and Armenia too.
The Vatican press office has today published the schedule of Pope Francis’ Georgia visit. The Pope will arrive in Georgia’s capital Tbilisi in the morning of September 30.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze has held a meeting with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the secretary for relations with States of the Holy See (Vatican), in Tbilisi today.
Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the secretary for relations with States of the Holy See (Vatican), who came to Georgia on 21 October, visited Khurvaleti village yesterday, which is located at the occupation line between Georgia and its eastern breakaway Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.