President Myriam Spiteri Debono met with Pope Francis in a private audience Friday as part of a trip to Italy and Poland.

In a statement, the president’s office said the Pope recounted his experiences in Malta while visiting the country in 2022 and of studying alongside Gozitan students in Buenos Aires while training to become a Jesuit.

The religious leader also spoke about women in leadership positions and the importance of increasing the birth rate, the statement read.

The president presented Pope Francis with medical equipment for use at the Ambulatorio Madre di Misericordia (“Mother of Mercy”) clinic – a St. Peter's Square facility opened by the pope in 2018 to provide free medical care to the poor, homeless and religious pilgrims.

Spiteri Debono also presented the Pope with a hamper of Maltese and Gozitan dishes, before visiting the clinic where she thanked its management for the opportunity given to Maltese medical students, who are offered work experience placements at the facility.

During her visit, the President also visited Rome’s children’s hospital Bambino Gesù which annually welcomes Maltese patients as well as medical students from Malta.

Some 18 Maltese students have studied at the hospital, which has assisted several mothers of children with serious medical conditions, the statement said.

Discussions between the president and the hospital’s management focused on the care offered at the facility, technological and medical developments and its partnership with the Maltese Medical School.

Together with Foreign Minister Ian Borg, Spiteri Debono also met with Vatican Secretary of State for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul R Gallagher, where Malta’s role chairing the OSCE last year, as well as the situation in the Mediterranean, Libya and Syria were also discussed.

The President’s official visit abroad continues in Poland, where the President will attend a ceremony commemorating the eightieth anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.