Italy

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday met at the Vatican with French President Emmanuel Macron, with the war in Ukraine looming large in both leaders’ concerns.

The nearly hour-long private audience was Francis’ third with Macron since becoming pontiff.

In a sign of their good relationship, the two used the informal French form of “you” in their conversation, according to the president’s office.

The Vatican in a brief statement said that after Macron spoke with Francis, the French leader met with the Holy See’s secretary of state and its foreign minister.

ROME (AP) — Giorgia Meloni, whose political party with neo-fascist roots secured the most votes in Italy’s national election last month, was sworn in Saturday as the country’s first far-right premier since the end of World War II. She is also the first woman to serve as premier.

Meloni, 45, recited the oath of office before President Sergio Mattarella, who on Friday formally asked her to form a government.

ROME (AP) — Giorgia Meloni on Friday formed Italy’s new ruling coalition, assembling the country’s first far-right-led government since the end of World War II and becoming the first woman to obtain the premiership.

A presidential palace official announced that Meloni and her Cabinet would be sworn in on Saturday. Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots, was the top vote-getter in Italy’s national election last month.

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has decided to extend by a year a lengthy global consultation of ordinary Catholics about the future of the Catholic Church, amid limited participation by the laity and seeming resistance to his reforms from the hierarchy.

Francis announced Sunday that the planned 2023 gathering of bishops would now take place in two stages — one session in October 2023 and a second in October 2024 — to allow more time to find a way forward.

ROME, Oct 3 (NNN-GNA) — As the world marks the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, around 1.6 billion tonnes of the primary product equivalent is wasted, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations estimates.

Of this number, 1.3 billion tonnes, representing 81 percent is edible, the FAO said in its Food Wastage Footprint and Impact on Natural Resources report.

ROME, October 2. /TASS/: Russian Ambassador to Italy Sergey Razov has been summoned to the republic’s Foreign Ministry on Monday, the embassy in Italy reported on Sunday.

"Russian Ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Monday at 11 am (12 pm Moscow time)," the diplomatic mission said.

A commentary will be made following the results.

MILAN, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Italy's Eni (ENI.MI) said it would not receive any of the gas it had ordered from Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) for delivery this weekend, although the firms said they were working to fix this.

Russian gas supplies through the Tarvisio entry point will be at zero for Oct. 1, Eni, the biggest importer of Russian gas in Italy, said in a statement on its website on Saturday.

The Italian group later added that it would not receive any of the requested imports for Oct. 2, and that the situation was expected to remain the same into Monday.

ROME (AP) — Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, who is poised to become Italy’s next premier, vowed Saturday to put national interests first in tackling soaring energy costs as she made her first public appearance since her Brothers of Italy party won the most votes in the country’s national election.

ROME (AP) — Making his second visit to Rome in two weeks, IOC president Thomas Bach met with Giorgia Meloni, whose far-right party won the most votes in Italy’s election, as concerns rise over delays in organizing the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party won Sunday’s general election, setting her up to become the country’s first female premier.

MATERA, Italy (AP) — Pope Francis traveled to southern Italy on Sunday to close out an Italian church congress that coincided with Italy’s national election, and delivered a message that hit on key domestic campaign issues including immigration.

Neither Francis nor his hosts referred to the vote during the open-air Mass, though Italy’s bishops conference had earlier urged Italians to cast ballots in the eagerly watched election that could bring Italy its first far-right government since World War II.