World number one Jannik Sinner has met Pope Leo XIV in Rome. The 23-year-old, who has reached the quarter-finals of the Italian Open in his first tournament since serving a three-month doping ban, was invited by the Vatican to meet the newly elected leader of the Catholic Church.

Pope Leo XIV has made peace with Jannik Sinner. The top-ranked tennis player visited the new pope on Wednesday, gave him a tennis racket and offered to play, during an off day for Sinner at the Italian Open.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner had an audience on Wednesday with the newly elected Pope Leo XIV, himself a keen tennis player, the Vatican said. Sinner was invited to the Vatican along with his parents and a delegation from the Italian Tennis Federation.

The papacy is a global platform, so the issues Pope Leo chooses to focus on can resonate far beyond the church.

The contrast between President Donald Trump and Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV couldn’t be more stark, politically, personally or in their world views.

Cardinal Robert Prevost has been announced as the new pontiff and has chosen the name Pope Leo XIV. There are no written rules or official criteria for a pope's name, but they choose names that have meaning in the Catholic tradition.

I met the man who would become Pope Leo XIV in October 2023. We were standing outside the Vatican’s Synod Hall, and from my short conversation with Cardinal Robert Prevost, I could tell he was a good listener,