Pope Leo XIV receives Benedetto XIII study center president

Don Saverio Paternoster, president of the Benedetto XIII Study Center of Gravina in Puglia, was granted an audience with Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City.

During the meeting, Paternoster presented the Pope with the volume ‘Benedetto XIII Orsini: Studi e testi’, a scholarly work detailing the life and ecclesiastical history of Pope Benedict XIII (born Vincenzo Maria Orsini). The presentation also included a silver medal minted in 1988 to commemorate the eleventh centenary of the Diocese of Gravina, and a letter from Pope Francis regarding the recent celebrations in Gravina.

The meeting was attended by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri and members of the Orsini and Bernheim families, who are supporters of the Orsini Foundation. The study center has been actively promoting the cause for the canonization and beatification of Benedict XIII since 1988.