Iranian president scheduled to visit Pope Francis in January

Dec 24, 2015

TEHRAN, IRAN: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is set to meet Pope Francis next month, according to a Vatican spokesman.

No date has been set for the meeting in the Vatican but it is likely to take place towards the end of January, reports AFP.

President Rouhani was originally scheduled to travel to Rome in November as part of a European visit that would also have seen him go to France, however the trip was cancelled in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Paris.

January’s visit will be President Rouhani’s first to the Vatican. It will also be the first visit by an Iranian president since Mohammad Khatami attended St John Paul II’s funeral in 2005. Khatami had previously met St John Paul II in Rome in 1999.--Catholic Herald