Duda invites Pope Leo XIV to Poland
During an audience at the Vatican on Thursday, outgoing Polish President Andrzej Duda invited Pope Leo XIV to visit Poland.
Duda was received in the Courtyard of St. Damasus before a private audience with the pope in the library of the Apostolic Palace.
"I mentioned that the new president (Karol Nawrocki - PAP) will undoubtedly follow suit, but I also extended an invitation in advance and asked (the pope - PAP) to start considering specific dates," Duda told reporters.
Duda also said that he asked the pope to grant the president-elect an audience in the near future as well, once Nawrocki "takes office."
The president said it was a special kind of visit to him, "on the one hand - a welcoming visit, because the Holy Father was chosen on May 8 and only just began his pontificate; on the other hand, it served as a farewell visit for me, as the head of state."
Following the meeting, Duda held talks with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and later laid a wreath at the tomb of Poland's St. John Paul II in the Chapel of St. Sebastian inside St. Peter's Basilica, according to the President's Office. (PAP) mj/jch
