Pope Leo XIV will on Saturday visit the tiny European republic of San Marino before travelling to Italy’s Adriatic coast for a major Catholic gathering that brings together religious, cultural and political figures.

The visit to San Marino, a 60-square-kilometre enclave surrounded by Italy and home to about 33,000 people, marks the latest in a series of short pastoral trips by the pontiff during the summer period.

The Chicago-born pope, who leads the Catholic Church from Vatican City, is expected to meet local authorities in the world’s oldest republic before holding a prayer service at the country’s basilica.

After the San Marino visit, Pope Leo XIV will head to Rimini, where he will attend the annual “Rimini Meeting” organised by Communion and Liberation, an influential Catholic movement.

The event, which blends religion, culture and politics, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year and has historically been linked with Italy’s Christian Democratic tradition.

Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to deliver an address at the gathering, becoming the first pope to participate in the event since Pope John Paul II attended in 1982.

Other speakers expected at the meeting include Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and Italy’s Deputy Prime Ministers Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini.

Before his address, the pontiff will visit an exhibition focused on Saint Augustine, the fifth-century Christian theologian whose teachings influenced the Augustinian order to which Pope Leo belongs.

He will also meet with sick and disabled members of the Catholic community before celebrating an open-air mass at Rimini’s port.

The visit comes as Pope Leo continues a period of domestic pastoral engagements, with recent trips including visits to Pavia, Lampedusa and Assisi.