Pope Leo XIV visits San Marino and addresses 60,000 at the Rimini Meeting

State visit to San Marino

Pope Leo XIV traveled by helicopter on the morning of 22 August 2026 to San Marino, where he was received by the Republic's Captains Regent, Alice Mina and Vladimiro Selva. A senior Vatican delegation accompanied the Pope, including Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, Substitute Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, and Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher. During the visit, the Pope appeared on the central balcony of the Palazzo Pubblico overlooking Piazza della Liberta to greet and bless the crowd, an act previously restricted to the Captains Regent. Speaking at the Basilica of San Marino before members of the local diocese, he addressed global tensions and local community challenges.

We live in a world wounded by many conflicts, in which violence, closures, and fear of the other are seen to increase with concern. Faced with these disturbing drifts, our response can only be to walk with even greater conviction along the path of the Gospel.

Address at the Rimini Meeting

Following the visit to San Marino, Pope Leo XIV arrived by helicopter at the Fiera di Rimini to attend the annual Meeting for Friendship Among Peoples. The event, organized by the Catholic movement Comunione e Liberazione, drew 60,000 attendees. It marked the first papal visit to Rimini in 44 years, following John Paul II's appearance in 1982. The Pope entered the west hall in a golf car, where he was welcomed by Foundation President Bernhard Scholz and Comunione e Liberazione President Davide Prosperi. He then toured the pavilions, stopping at an exhibition dedicated to Saint Augustine alongside Augustinian Prior General Joseph Farrell and Cardinal Archbishop of Algiers Jean-Paul Vesco.

Addressing the main hall, Pope Leo XIV spoke against political rearmament and economic exploitation, urging attendees to build reconciliation.

Let us, therefore, free coexistence from suspicion, culture from arrogance, education from ideology, work from the idolatry of profit, and technology and finance from the business of death.

Youth encounter and social dialogue

The Pope also visited the Villaggio Ragazzi pavilion, where more than 5,000 people, including families with young children, gathered across a 6,000-square-meter hall. Departing from his prepared remarks to respond to chanting from the audience, he stated that the loudest applause belonged to Jesus Christ. In his speech to the youth, he emphasized that faith must be rooted in personal freedom rather than indoctrination. He also referred to Pope Francis's encyclical Fratelli tutti to urge greater social friendship and protection for vulnerable individuals across borders.

Before borders, definitions, and institutions, there are always people. This awareness is at the heart of Christianity.

Liturgical celebrations in Rimini

The pastoral schedule in Rimini included an afternoon meeting with vulnerable individuals at the Cathedral, followed by an 18:30 Mass at Piazzale Boscovich on the beach. Organizers prepared for an expected congregation of 25,000 people, coordinated by 600 volunteers from local and regional parishes. A total of 354 priests and deacons joined the concelebration, wearing stoles inspired by the fifth-century mosaics of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna. Diocesan gifts to the Pope included a facsimile of the fourteenth-century Codice Gradenighiano manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedy from the Gambalunga Library and a box of letters compiled by inmates at the Rimini prison.