Lula meets today with the Pope and with 'champions in the fight against hunger'.
The President has a meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican and participates in meetings with business leaders and FAO representatives in Rome.
247 - President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva meets this Monday (13) with Pope Leo XIV, at the Vatican, in his first meeting with the pontiff. The audience takes place at 8:15 am (local time), in the Library of the Apostolic Palace, according to the official agenda released by the Planalto Palace on Sunday night.
Pope Leo XIV, elected in May as successor to Pope Francis, who died in April, has focused his initial pronouncements on humanitarian and global issues, such as the immigration policy of the United States—currently governed by President Donald Trump—and appeals for peace in Gaza. The meeting with Lula is expected as a symbolic gesture of resuming dialogue between the Vatican and Latin America under new political and religious leadership.
Following the papal audience, Lula has a busy schedule in Rome. At 11:00 AM, the president will meet with Pietro Labriola, global CEO of TIM, and Matteo del Fante, CEO of Poste Italiane, at the Brazilian embassy. At 1:00 PM, he will participate in the meeting of the Council of Champions of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, based at the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), where he will reinforce Brazil's leadership in the initiative.
According to Itamaraty (Brazil's Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the joint declaration of this Global Alliance has been under negotiation for months and will be submitted to the countries that are part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The document, according to diplomatic sources, reflects the Brazilian government's effort to place the fight against hunger and the ecological transition at the center of the global agenda of the G20, currently chaired by Brazil.
Still at FAO headquarters, at 13:40 PM, Lula will meet with the organization's Director-General, Qu Dongyu, to discuss the implementation of food security programs and cooperation with countries in the Global South. At 15:20 PM, the president will meet with the head of government of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize laureate for his work in microcredit and social inclusion.
Concluding his visit, Lula departs at 17:05 PM from Rome's Fiumicino International Airport bound for Brazil. Once in Brasília, he intends to meet with his economic team to discuss the defeat of the Provisional Measure that dealt with an alternative to the increase in the Tax on Financial Operations (IOF).
According to Lula, the government will seek new ways to ensure that the financial system, "especially fintechs," pays the "tax due"—signaling that tax justice policy will continue to be a priority of his term.
The trip to Italy reinforces Brazil's role as an international player in an agenda focused on combating inequality, ensuring food security, and promoting sustainability—issues the president has championed in multilateral forums since the beginning of his administration.
