President Cyril Ramaphosa touched down at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport this morning, commencing a historic working visit to the Holy See. The trip represents South Africa’s first high-level engagement with Pope Leo XIV, the 267th successor to Saint Peter, who was elected by the papal conclave on 8 May 2025 following the death of Pope Francis.
The visit’s centrepiece is a private audience with His Holiness at the Apostolic Palace, followed by expanded talks with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin. Official sources from both sides describe the agenda as “forward-looking and values-driven”, with four priority pillars: humanitarian aid coordination, climate justice, emergency response mechanisms, and global peace-building.
“South Africa brings to the table its lived experience of reconciliation and nation-building through Ubuntu,” President Ramaphosa told journalists before departure from Waterkloof Air Force Base. “We see in Pope Leo XIV a moral leader whose encyclicals on integral ecology and fraternal love echo our own constitutional commitment to human dignity for all.”
The Holy See’s diplomatic weight cannot be overstated. It maintains full relations with 183 states, holds permanent observer status at the United Nations, and commands a global network of humanitarian agencies that delivered over US$2.3 billion in aid last year alone. Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican’s relief arm, has partnered with South African organisations on drought relief in the Eastern Cape and refugee support in Musina.
Climate justice features prominently. Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Laudamus Te, released in July, called for “radical solidarity” with small island states and African nations bearing the brunt of climate impacts despite minimal historical emissions. South Africa, chair of the G20 in 2025, seeks Vatican moral backing ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil.
On peace-building, both parties referenced ongoing conflicts in Sudan, eastern DRC, and the Middle East. The Holy See’s mediation track record, from Mozambique’s 1992 Rome General Peace Accords to recent Colombia dialogues, aligns with Pretoria’s “silence diplomacy” evolution under the Ramaphosa administration.
President Ramaphosa is accompanied by Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola, who will hold parallel technical discussions, and his daughter Keneilwe Ramaphosa, continuing a personal tradition of including family on significant state visits. Also in the delegation are Director-General Zane Dangor and Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.
Thirty-one years after formal diplomatic ties were established in 1994, the relationship has matured quietly but substantially. The Holy See opened its Apostolic Nunciature in Pretoria in 1995; South Africa reciprocated with an embassy to the Holy See in Rome in 1998. Pope John Paul II’s 1995 visit remains the only papal tour of South Africa to date.
Today’s encounter carries symbolic weight beyond bilateralism. As the African Union pushes for greater voice in global governance and the G20 grapples with North-South tensions, a public embrace between the continent’s economic powerhouse and the world’s pre-eminent moral authority sends a powerful message of solidarity.
The Presidential Programme concludes with a tree-planting ceremony in the Vatican Gardens, symbolising shared commitment to environmental stewardship, before departure tomorrow morning. A joint communiqué is expected this evening.
For South Africa, the Rome visit is both diplomatic outreach and moral alignment, proof that Ubuntu and universal fraternity can find common expression on the global stage.