South Korean president scheduled to meet Pope Leo XIV on Monday afternoon local time

President Lee Jae Myung, on an official visit to the Vatican, is set to meet Pope Leo XIV on Monday local time.

The meeting marks the first visit by a South Korean president to the Holy See since Leo XIV's election as pope, and the first papal audience for a South Korean head of state in about five years — since then-President Moon Jae-in met the late Pope Francis in October 2021.

Lee is expected to deliver a message of peace on the Korean Peninsula during the meeting. Attention is focused in particular on whether he will invite Leo XIV to visit North Korea, with observers suggesting Lee may seek a religious breakthrough to ease the strained inter-Korean relationship.

Former President Moon similarly asked Pope Francis to visit North Korea during their meeting, saying such a trip would provide momentum for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

On Sunday, Lee attended a "Special Mass for Peace and Solidarity" at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, presided over by Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy. "I pray that our offering today becomes a blessed seed of wheat for peace and solidarity throughout the world," Lee said.

Marking the anniversary of the 2000 inter-Korean summit between former President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Lee said, "Twenty-six years ago on June 15, the two Koreas sat face to face for the first time since the division and issued the June 15 South-North Joint Declaration." He called it "a historic turning point that showed the world the possibility of dialogue and cooperation beyond long-standing hostility and tension," and said he intended "to do everything possible to build a sustainable peace regime."

Some observers are also watching the 2027 World Youth Day, scheduled to be held in Seoul next year with Pope Leo XIV expected to attend, as a potential opening for a North Korea visit. Regarding the event, Lee said he hoped "young people from around the world will be able to come together, transcending the barriers of front lines, barbed wire and borders."


sang@heraldcorp.com