Giorgia Meloni. Meets with Pope

Vatican said the pope had had a 20-minute private meeting at Rome's Gemelli hospital with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The prime minister had announced her afternoon visit several hours before the Vatican did.

"I am very happy to have found him alert and responsive," Meloni said in the communique issued by her office. "We joked as always. He has not lost his proverbial sense of humor."