Pope Leo XIV made a half-day pastoral visit to the Republic of San Marino on Saturday 22 August, according to the Holy See Press Office and Vatican News. He flew by helicopter from the Vatican, landed at the Torraccia airfield at 8.45 and was welcomed by the two Captains Regent, Alice Mina and Vladimiro Selva, who serve jointly as heads of state. Vatican News reported that he travelled on to the Italian city of Rimini in the afternoon.
In a telegram to Italian President Sergio Mattarella sent as he left Italian territory, the Pope said he was going to meet San Marino’s people on the centenary of diplomatic relations with the Holy See. In his address, as published by the Holy See, he said those relations were formalised in April 1926.
Freedom and Good Governance
After military honours in the Piazza della Libertà, the Pope met the Captains Regent at the Palazzo Pubblico, signed the Book of Distinguished Guests and addressed authorities and civil society in the Grand and General Council Hall. According to the text published by the Holy See, he noted that his visit followed those of John Paul II in 1982 and Benedict XVI in 2011.
He built his address around the republic’s motto, Libertas, saying there is no true civil liberty without personal liberty and the respect for human dignity that goes with it. He described small states “on a human scale” as places where politics can be closer to citizens’ needs, and said San Marino could serve as a “laboratory” for good governance drawing on Catholic social teaching, while preserving the secular nature of the state.
Diplomacy, Care and the EU
The Pope said San Marino and the Holy See share a high regard for diplomacy and multilateralism. He praised the republic’s hospitality towards Ukrainians, especially at the start of the war, and its commitment to international humanitarian law. He also said the Association Agreement between San Marino and the European Union was about to come into force, and that the country would then be in a stable but distinctive relationship with the Union. He urged the community to protect human life at every stage, from conception to natural death, which his address presented as part of the “care of the human person”. After a greeting from the balcony of the Palazzo Pubblico, he walked to the Basilica of Saint Marinus to meet the church community.
Why It Matters
The visit shows how the Holy See framed its relationship with San Marino on the anniversary: through a mix of diplomacy, moral argument and attention to local institutions. For San Marino, a papal visit on the hundredth anniversary of formal ties offers international attention at the moment the country moves closer to the European Union, a step the Pope himself highlighted. The speech also set out how the Pope frames multilateralism and humanitarian law, themes he raised in his address.
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