The Taoiseach Enda Kenny is to meet Pope Benedict VXI near Rome this weekend.
He will be part of a delegation of European political leaders who will pay a visit to the pontiff at his summer residence in Castle Gandolfo.
Mr. Kenny will be in Rome on Friday to hold talks with the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti to discuss Irish plans for the Presidency of the European Union next year.
On Saturday he will pay a visit to the leader of the Catholic Church with a number of other politicians affiliated to the Centrist Democratic International Party.
It is the first time Mr. Kenny will meet with the Pontiff since the publication of a series of reports into child abuse by the Church.
Newstalk’s Political Correspondent Páraic Gallagher has more from Leinster House.
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