Vatican City, Dec 2, 2016 / 07:58 am
While he was in town for a global meeting on the crisis in the Mediterranean region, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stopped by the Vatican for a meeting with Pope Francis that likely centered largely on the challenges of migration.
Kerry is currently in Rome for the three-day "Rome Med – Mediterranean Dialogues" meeting, which this year runs Dec. 1-3. The second annual event is a high-level initiative of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, as well as the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI).
The main purpose of the gathering is to draft a "positive agenda" for the Mediterranean region given the current challenges by coming up with new ideas and rethinking traditional approaches at both the local and international levels.
According to the website, this year's meeting will focus on how the Mediterranean has increasingly become "the epicenter of international disorder," and seems to now be "synonymous" with conflict, instability, terrorism and mass migration.