Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is on a four-day state visit to Italy and France — the first trip of its kind by an Iranian leader in almost 20 years — and one of his first stops on Tuesday was Vatican City, where he had a closed-door meeting with Pope Francis. The European visit was originally planned for November, but rescheduled after the terrorist attack in Paris. Before heading to the Vatican, Rouhani told Italian business leaders that "Iran is the safest and most stable country of the entire region."
Rouhani is trying to capitalize on the nuclear deal to reopen trade relations with Europe, and Italy says it hopes Iran will help negotiate an end to the conflict in Syria. And while it may seem odd for the head of the Roman Catholic Church to meet with the president of the Islamic Republic, the meeting actually highlights "a long-standing relationship between the Vatican and Iran that has grown closer under the current pontificate and could help support efforts for peace in Syria and Iraq," The Wall Street Journal reports. The last time an Iranian president met with a pope was in 1999.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Today's political cartoons - April 20, 2025Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - Pam Bondi, retirement planning, and more
-
5 heavy-handed cartoons about ICE and deportationCartoons Artists take on international students, the Supreme Court, and more
-
Exploring the three great gardens of JapanThe Week Recommends Beautiful gardens are 'the stuff of Japanese landscape legends'
-
Pope returns to Vatican after long hospital staySpeed Read Pope Francis entered the hospital on Feb. 14 and battled double pneumonia
-
Texas megachurch founder charged with sex crimesSpeed Read Robert Morris, former spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, is accused of sexually abusing a child
-
Pope Francis suffers setback with respiratory episodesSpeed Read The 88-year-old pope continues to battle pneumonia
-
US Christianity's long decline has halted, Pew findsSpeed Read 62% of Americans call themselves Christian, a population that has been 'relatively stable' for the past five years
-
Pope Francis hospitalized with 'complex' illnessSpeed Read The Vatican says their leader has a respiratory infection, raising new concerns about his health
-
The Aga Khan, billionaire spiritual leader, dies at 88Speed Read Prince Karim Al-Hussaini's philanthropy funded hospitals, housing and schools in some of the world's poorest places
-
Biden awards Pope Francis highest US civilian honorSpeed Read President Joe Biden awarded Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction
-
Pope seeks inquiry on if Gaza assault is 'genocide'Speed Read In a book for the Jubilee 2025, Pope Francis considers whether Israel's war in Gaza meets the legal definition of 'genocide'
