La sovrana torna in Italia dopo 14 anni, in Vaticano l’incontro con Bergoglio
che fa un dono al figlio di William e Kate. Silenzio sulla questione Falkland

LA VISITA IN VATICANO
È arrivata con una ventina di minuti di ritardo la regina Elisabetta II all’ appuntamento con papa Francesco in Vaticano. L’incontro nello studio dell’Auletta Paolo VI, inizialmente previsto per le 15.00, è iniziato poco dopo le 15.20. La regina, arrivata sulla fuoriserie blindata, è entrata nel luogo dell’incontro dal retro dell’Aula Paolo VI, dal piazzale detto «del Fungo». Nella sua visita la regina Elisabetta II ha ricevuto dal Pontefice anche un dono per il «royal baby», il principe George di Cambridge, figlio del principe William e della moglie Kate Middleton: il Papa ha inviato al piccolo George, che compirà un anno a luglio e terzo nella linea si successione al trono britannico, un globo in pietra pregiata sormontato da un croce. A Elisabetta II, invece, il Papa ha donato un’antica pergamena, risalente al maggio 1679, con un messaggio «Urbi et Orbi» del cardinale Cesare Facchinetti. L’incontro è durato circa 30 minuti.

LA DISPUTA SULLE FALKLANDS
Dal giorno dell’incoronazione, il 2 giugno 1953, la sovrana britannica ha incontrato tre pontefici, l’ultima volta nel 2010, quando Benedetto XVI si recò in visita nel Regno Unito. Nel 1982, la regina ricevette Giovani Paolo II a Londra nella prima visita papale nell isole britanniche in oltre 450 anni. L’incontro con il papa argentino coincide con l’anniversario dello sbarco delle truppe argentine nelle isole Falkands (che gli argentini chiamano Malvinas). Lo sbarco argentino avvenne il 2 aprile 1982, ma le truppe furono costrette ad arrendersi 74 giorni più tardi. Dopo l’elezione di papa Bergoglio al soglio pontificio, il premier David Cameron disse di essere «rispettosamente» in disaccordo con il papa argentino che una volta aveva definito «nostre» le isole. E all’indomani del referendum del 2013, in cui il 99,8% degli abitanti delle isole Falkland votarono a favore di rimanere britanniche, Cameron scherzò dicendo: «Il fumo bianco sopra le Falkland era abbastanza chiaro». Un’allusione chiara al fumo che si leva dalla Cappella Sistina quando i cardinali annunciano al mondo che è stato eletto un Papa.
www.lastampa.it/…/pagina.html

Die Queen wird keinen Schleier tragen
Papst Franziskus ist bekannt dafür, mit dem Protokoll zu brechen. Auch Queen Elizabeth II. verzichtet bei ihrem Besuch am Donnerstag im Vatikan auf eine Tradition: Sie trifft das Oberhaupt der katholischen Kirche ohne schwarze Kleidung und Schleier. "Das passt zum informellen Charakter des Besuchs", sagte ein Sprecher des Buckingham Palace. Als Papst Benedikt XVI. 2010 zum Staatsbesuch in Großbritannien war, trug die Queen, die auch Oberhaupt der anglikanischen Church of England ist, allerdings auch schon hellblau.
Erstes Treffen wurde wegen Grippe abgesagt
Die Queen reist am Abend wieder ab. Ihr Besuch in Rom war bereits im vergangenen Jahr geplant, musste damals aber wegen einer Magen-Darm-Grippe der Queen abgesagt werden.
www.augsburger-allgemeine.de/panorama/Die-Queen-triff…

Llega Isabel II a Roma para reunirse con el Papa
La reina, de 87 años, llegó a Roma acompañada por su esposo, el duque de Edimburgo, de 92 años, para una visita relámpago, que durará pocas horas.

Roma
La reina Isabel II, líder de la Iglesia Anglicana, llegó hoy a Roma, donde tiene previsto un almuerzo con el presidente italiano, Giorgio Napolitano, y será recibida por el papa Francisco en su cuarta visita oficial al Vaticano.
La soberana, de 87 años, y su esposo, el duque de Edimburgo, de 92, llegaron al aeropuerto militar romano de Ciampino a las 12:35 horas y fueron recibidos por una guardia de honor.
Desde el aeropuerto se dirigió al Quirinale, sede de la Presidencia de la República italiana para mantener un almuerzo con Napolitano, de 88 años, y al que asisten sólo diez personas.
La reina Isabel II, en su primer viaje a Roma en 14 años, llega a la capital italiana después de haber sido invitada por Napolitano en una visita a Londres, pero el viaje previsto para el año pasado tuvo que ser suspendido por enfermedad de la soberana.
Tras ese encuentro, Isabel II y su consorte acudirán al Vaticano, donde a las 15:00 hora local los espera el papa Francisco para una audiencia que ha sido calificada de "informal" por fuentes vaticanas.
El pontífice argentino recibirá a la soberana en un estudio privado situado cerca del aula Pablo XVI, donde se celebran las audiencias de grandes grupos, y no en la Biblioteca del palacio apostólico, donde suele recibir a los Jefes de Estado y de Gobierno.
Tras este encuentro, Isabel II se dirigirá de nuevo al aeropuerto romano de Ciampino para regresar a Londres.
Será el primer encuentro entre la máxima autoridad de la Iglesia Anglicana y el papa Francisco, de 77 años.
Desde la coronación de Isabel II, el 2 de junio de 1953, la soberana británica se ha reunido con tres pontífices, en la última ocasión en 2010, cuando Benedicto XVI visitó el Reino Unido.
En 1982, la reina recibió a Juan Pablo II en Londres en la primera visita papal a las islas británicas en más de 450 años.
La reina ha viajado oficialmente al Vaticano en otras tres ocasiones: en 1961 se reunió con Juan XXIII, y en 1980 y 2000 mantuvo encuentros con Juan Pablo II.
Antes de su coronación, cuando todavía era princesa, visitó por primera vez el Vaticano, en 1951, cuando se reunió con Pío XII.
www.milenio.com/internacional/Papa_Francisco-…

Queen arrives in Italy for first meeting with Pope Francis
Queen will have lunch with President Giorgio Napolitano before her private audience with pope at Vatican

The Queen has arrived in Italy for her first overseas visit in more than two years, a day-long trip that will see her meet Pope Francis for the first time.

Wearing lilac and looking relaxed, the Queen landed at Ciampino airport with the Duke of Edinburgh and was driven to the presidential palace of the Italian head of state, Giorgio Napolitano. The two heads of state are having a private lunch at the Quirinale before her private audience with the pope later on Thursday.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh will be received by the 77-year-old pope in a papal study rather than the lavish apostolic palace where Francis met Barack Obama last week. On this occasion, the Queen is not expected to wear black or a mantilla (lace veil).

It is the Queen's first foreign trip since she went to Australia in 2011, and the first meeting between the supreme governor of the Church of England and the head of the Roman Catholic church since 2010, when the then pope Benedict XVI made a state visit to Britain.

The Queen did not attend his Argentinian successor's inauguration last March, and was instead represented by the Duke of Gloucester. But she has a long history of papal meetings, having made her first visit to the Vatican as Princess Elizabeth in 1951, where she was received by Pius XII, and presided over an unprecedented thaw in relations between the UK and Holy See.

During her reign, the Queen has been received by a pope three times at the Vatican: by John XXIII in 1961, and by John Paul II in 1980 and again in 2000. The first encounter with the Polish pope marked the first time a British monarch had made a state visit to the Vatican, a landmark gesture reciprocated two years later when the pontiff made a pastoral visit to the UK.

The Queen's meeting with Francis, therefore, will be her seventh with a leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

Nigel Baker, Britain's ambassador to the Holy See, described the visit as a "reaffirmation" of the ties between the Holy See and the UK, noting that it was taking place in the centenary year of the formal re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the two, which occurred in 1914.

However, the visit is not without its potential tensions. "Thursday's meeting comes at a time when, on the surface, relations between the Catholic church and the Church of England are at an all-time high. But dig a little deeper and issues arise," said Dr Rebecca Rist, papal expert from the University of Reading, who singled out the C of E's ordination of female priests and push for female bishops.

Another issue that some say could set the two heads of state on a collision course is the status of the Falkland Islands, the British territory in the South Atlantic over which Britain and Argentina went to war in 1982.

As cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis spoke out about the ongoing row in blunt terms in 2012, paying tribute to Argentine soldiers who had died in the conflict and accusing Britain of having "usurped" the islands.

But since becoming pope he has steered clear of such proclamations and diplomatic observers expect that approach to continue. "The Vatican has been very clear with us, including in the last week and at a very senior level, that that longstanding neutrality on the [Falklands] issue remains in force," said Baker.

Although the papal audience is likely to dominate the headlines, the Queen is in Rome at the invitation of the Italian president, Napolitano. The two veteran heads of state were supposed to see each other last spring before the widely respected former communist was due to finish his seven-year mandate, but the Queen had to cancel because of ill health. But as Napolitano was re-elected for a surprise second term, the two -- who have already met four times in their current capacities -- have another chance to catch up.

Napolitano, who is 88, holds the monarch in high regard, using a dinner in 2012 at the British ambassador's residence in Rome to praise her and express gratitude for the royal family's support for the Italian resistance movement during the second world war. The Queen acceded to the throne in 1952.