Jo McKenna: Italy Correspondent on the Pope's condition and the upcoming visit from British Royals

The Pope's condition is said to be improving, but there's uncertainty over an upcoming royal visit. 

The 88-year-old has been in hospital for more than a month with double pneumonia, but the Vatican is now saying he's making slight improvements. 

King Charles and Queen Camilla are due to visit for the jubilee celebrations of the Catholic Church, early next month. 

But Italy Correspondent Jo McKenna told Ryan Bridge it's uncertain whether the Pope will be able to meet the royals. 

She says the Vatican is refusing to confirm the meeting, or whether he will be out of hospital by then. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joe McKenna is in Rome for US this morning. Joe,
good morning, Good morning Ryan. Now what's the latest with
the pope Houses health.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, it's been a rocky ride, as we all know
for Pope Francis. He's been in hospital now for more
than a month. The Vatican says he's making slight improvements.
We're just waiting for an update, which should come through
in the next half an hour. But now there's a
lot of concern because, particularly because King Charles and Queen
Camilla have announced a state visit to Rome in April,

(00:29):
and they're saying they're ready to meet the Pope, but
the Vatican refuses to confirm a if that's happening, or
b whether the Pope will be out of hospital by then. Right.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Meanwhile, we've got the defense talks continuing. This is the
bid to increase defense spending. Maloney there has backed the plans,
but the coalition not quite sure about how much we
should spend.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah, first of all, for the Italian Prime Minister Georgia Maloney,
it's a very difficult tight rope that she's walking. She
wants to be pro EU, she wants to be pro Ukraine,
but she also wants to protect her relationship with the
American President Donald Trump. She's been updating Parliament today ahead
of an EU summit where the leaders are going to

(01:13):
discuss Ukraine with support and plans to increase defense spending.
Italian defense spending now at one point five percent of
GDP that split the coalition. Her brother's of Italy party
backs the EU trying to raise that amount, while the
League party run by her deputy Prime Minister Matteo Slovini
opposes it. Now he says that money, any increase in

(01:35):
spending on or rearmaments, that money should be allocated to schools,
hospitals and pensions. And you can imagine that resonates quite
well with the Italian electorate.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yeah. Absolutely, it's the same problem that a lot of those,
a lot of your fellow European countries will be grappling with.
It's a very big bill to have to cover this
defense one. Now, what is the deal with these one
euro homes, Joe? Are they still on offer? And beautiful
quaint Italian town they are.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Indeed, I've visited quite a few of these one Euro
towns in Sicily and there's another one in Sardinia. But
this is a different proposal now coming from the northern
province of Trento, which is up in the Dolomite Mountains,
right up on the Austrian border. They're offering one hundred
thousand euros to people who want to live in their

(02:25):
deserted towns. They've identified around thirty three towns that are
running out of people and they want to encourage even
foreigners to move to these villages that have lost their inhabitants.
Now to get the money, you've got to live there
fourteen years or rent the property at a moderate rate
to someone who will live there. But for people in

(02:47):
New Zealand who love their mountains, I love their skiing,
this is certainly something worth considering. I would think.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Yeah, I would have thought so too. I watched a
documentary on it just the other day, a YouTube one.
It's great, Joe. I mean, it's a lot of work though,
it's a lot of.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
It's a lot of work if you take one of
those one euro houses and rip them apast, certainly, but
I've seen some great results with them all the same.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Joe mckinner and Italy, thanks so much for your time
this morning.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
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