Pope to visit Italian president

October 26, 2013 - Pope Francis will make his first official visit to Italy's president Giorgio Napolitano on 14 November, the Vatican has announced. The trip by Pope Francis to the Quirinale Palace, the official residence of the Italian president in Rome, follows the visit by the Italian head of state to the Vatican on 8 June. There have only been nine Pontiff who visited the Quirinale Palace over the past 74 years since Pope Pius XII visited King Victor Emmanuel III in 1939. Pope Francis's predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, visited Napolitano on 4 October, 2008, and earlier on 24 June, 2005, when Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was president. (Source: Vatican)