President Higgins and Francis are expected to talk about a variety of topics that are important to both, including as food security, poverty, migration, climate change, Indigenous rights, and world peace.

Francis's contribution to the discussion on these topics has already been acknowledged by Mr. Higgins.

Mr. Higgins and Francis will meet on the fourth time; their previous encounters took place at the Vatican in 2017 and 2021, as well as in the presidential home Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin in 2018.

In 2013, President Higgins had a meeting with Francis during the Papal Inauguration.

Mr. Higgins will give Francis a sculpture by well-known Irish sculptor John Behan named The Expelled during their encounter.

In appreciation of the pontiff's efforts to raise public awareness of the predicament of migrants and refugees throughout the globe, the president decided to give Francis this essay.

One of the most well-known living sculptors in Ireland, Mr. Behan has recently concentrated on portraying the lives of migrants worldwide.

Mr. Higgins will have a bilateral meeting with Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, after his private session with Francis.

Following that, President Higgins will go to the Teutonic Pontifical College's Campo Santo, where he will lay a wreath in memory of the late Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, whose efforts during the Nazi occupation of Rome during World War II saved thousands of lives.

The 60th anniversary of Monsignor O'Flaherty's passing is observed this year.

Additionally, President Higgins will visit the Irish Pontifical College in Rome to see the exhibition Ireland and the Birth of Europe. The display narrates the tale of the part Irish academics and missionaries, such as Saint Columbanus and his adherents, played in the formation of a common European identity.

The president is attending the World Food Forum at the same time as the festivities.