VATICAN CITY – The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, was on Friday received by Pope Francis in a private audience in the Apostolic Palace. She subsequently met with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.

  During her trip to Rome, from June 16 to 19, Zourabichvili took part in a series of institutional meetings including bilateral meetings with the State Secretariat, and a meeting with the Pontifical Council for Culture, to bring the Vatican's already good diplomatic relations with Georgia to another level.

  Ketevan Bagration of Mukhrani, Georgia’s ambassador to the Holy See, said,  "From the moment of her election, the President wanted to come and visit the Holy Father. A trip was scheduled for April 26-27, which was later postponed because of the pandemic restrictions. Now, the president is coming to further develop the excellent relations between the Holy See and Georgia."

  Georgia and the Holy See have had good diplomatic relations since 1992, and the nation was visited by Pope John Paul II in 1999 and Pope Francis in 2016.

   The ambassador recalls that "Georgia is a country of ancient religious culture, converted by St Andrew the Apostle. Then, it was thanks to St. Nino, who on June 1, 319, from Cappadocia crossed Georgia's  borders and spread Christianity across the country, and Christianity became the state religion in 337.”

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