VATICAN CITY: French President Emmanuel Macron arrived on Friday at the Vatican for his first meeting with Pope Leo XIV, a private audience expected to be dominated by the Iran war.
The French leader, who arrived with his wife Brigitte after flying to Rome on Thursday, will meet the US pontiff and the Vatican's secretary of state, Pietro Parolin.
Macron and the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics were due above all to discuss "the resolution of the crisis in the Middle East", a spokesman for Macron's office told reporters.
They are particularly focused on Lebanon, where deadly Israeli strikes threatened this week's temporary truce between the US and Iran.
Leo XIV visited Lebanon late last year as part of his first trip abroad, which also included Türkiye and has repeatedly prayed for the victims of conflict there.
Macron has also made numerous appeals for Lebanon to be included in the ceasefire.
He discussed the conflict on Thursday evening with representatives of the Catholic community of Sant'Egidio, an informal diplomatic channel of the Holy See that is very active on Middle Eastern and humanitarian issues.
"Macron is a man of peace" and "can do a lot" to "support" the Lebanese authorities, the community's founder, Andrea Riccardi, told reporters, adding that Lebanon "must not be left alone".
In recent days, both Macron and the Chicago-born pontiff have spoken out against US President Donald Trump over the war, which began with Israel-US attacks on Iran. — AFP
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