Poland’s outgoing President Andrzej Duda met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday, inviting the pontiff to visit Poland and asking him to meet with President-elect Karol Nawrocki after he takes office next month.
Polish President Andrzej Duda and Pope Leo meet at the Vatican on Thursday, July 3, 2025.Photo: EPA/VATICAN MEDIA HANDOUT
Speaking to reporters after the private audience, Duda described the meeting as „a moving moment,” saying that it was „both a welcoming and farewell visit” as his second presidential term nears its end.
’I invited the Holy Father to Poland’
„I invited the Holy Father to Poland,” Duda said. „We are always waiting for him. The Polish people would very much welcome this visit.”
He added that he had encouraged the pope to meet Nawrocki, who is set to be sworn in on August 6.
„I asked that the new Polish president, Karol Nawrocki, could arrive as soon as possible,” he said.
Peace in Ukraine
Duda told a news conference that he and Pope Leo discussed „the situation in Poland” and the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
He said the pope had asked for his assessment of the conflict and praised the Vatican’s efforts to promote peace.
„I said that I thought it was an interesting idea for peace talks to take place under the auspices of the Holy See,” Duda told reporters, adding that he thanked the pope for the initiative.
Russia in May rejected the Vatican’s offer to host such talks, according to media reports.
Earlier in the day, Duda was received in the Courtyard of St. Damasus before meeting the pope in the library of the Apostolic Palace—where Leo also leads the Angelus prayer for pilgrims each Sunday in St. Peter’s Square. It was their second meeting since Leo’s election in early May, according to the Polish President’s Office.
After the papal audience, Duda met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
He later laid a wreath at the tomb of St. John Paul II in the Chapel of St. Sebastian inside St. Peter’s Basilica. The late Polish-born pope, who led the Roman Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005, was canonized in 2014.
Duda previously spoke with Pope Leo during the Mass inaugurating the pontiff on May 18, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.
Leo XIV, formerly American Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected pope by the College of Cardinals on May 8.
Polish leaders hailed the election at the time, with Duda calling it „a deeply moving moment for the Catholic Church and for the entire world.”
In a message posted online shortly after the election, Duda wrote that Poland „has shared a special bond of spiritual unity with the Holy See for over a thousand years,” and affirmed the country’s commitment to strengthening those ties „in the name of shared values, responsibility for the common good, and the pursuit of global peace.”
Duda’s Vatican visit was one of his final foreign trips as president. His successor will be sworn in before both houses of parliament in Warsaw on August 6.
(gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, prezydent.pl
