Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Rome this weekend to attend the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV.
The new pontiff, who was elected in a conclave that ended last Thursday, will be officially installed as the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics at a mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday. A number of world leaders are expected to attend.
Carney will attend the mass himself and hopes to use the opportunity to meet with other world leaders to discuss security and trade, a news release from the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping to attend, one of his top aides told Reuters on Tuesday.
The White House has not yet said who will represent U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
David Johnston represented Canada at Pope Francis’s inaugural mass in 2013, at the request of then-prime minister Stephen Harper. Johnston was Governor General at the time.
