The President of the Government was received today at the Vatican by His Holiness Pope Francis, to whom he addressed the invitation to visit the Region during his visit to Portugal in the context of the celebrations of the centenary of Fátima apparitions, which will take place in 2017.
 
At the meeting held in St. Peter's Square during the greetings between the Pope and guests (audience in the form of “baciamano fuori transenne”), held after the public weekly audience, Vasco Cordeiro, who was accompanied by his family, offered Pope Francis a Holy Spirit Crown.
 
"In addition to being a moment that is quite striking and significant from a personal perspective, I had the opportunity to greet His Holiness the Pope, on behalf of the Azores and the Azorean People, and to address him the invitation in person to visit the islands of the Azores, which has already been sent in writing. I emphasised how important it would be for the overwhelming majority of the Azorean People and the Azores as well," said Vasco Cordeiro.
 
The President of the Government also said he had the opportunity to offer Pope Francis a Holy Spirit Crown. It is of the "greatest symbols of religiosity of the Azorean People, under which the nine islands and our Diaspora unite, that clearly demonstrates this message from the Azorean People."
 
"We look forward now with a lot of hope that this visit Papal be possible, because I have no doubt that this would be a great satisfaction and great joy for the people of the Azores," said the President of the Government.
 
During his visit to the Vatican, the President of the Government also met with the Ambassador of Portugal to the Holy See, António de Almeida Ribeiro, and Monsignor José Bettencourt, an Azorean citizen who holds the position of Head of Protocol of the Secretariat of State of the Vatican.