Noting Catholicism is state religion, Costa Rica’s president invites Pontiff to visit nation

October 30, 2026

Pope Leo XIV received President Laura Fernández of Costa Rica in an October 29 audience.

The president, described by the Associated Press as a conservative populist, invited the Pontiff to visit the nation in 2027, to mark the 200th anniversary of the declaration of the Virgin of the Angels as Costa Rica’s patroness and the 180th anniversary of the proclamation of Catholicism as the state religion.

In inviting the Pontiff, President Fernández “mentioned that Costa Rica is the only confessional state in Latin America, a condition enshrined in its constitution,” Infobae reported.

Following the papal audience, the president met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary of the Section for Relations with States and International Organizations.

“Satisfaction was expressed regarding the good relations between the Holy See and Costa Rica, as well as between the State and the local Church,” the Holy See Press Office said in a statement. “The conversation further touched upon various current sociopolitical issues concerning the country and the region, with particular reference to challenges related to security and migration.”

Costa Rica borders Nicaragua, where the Church is suffering intense persecution. President Fernández’s papal audience took place one week after the president of Honduras, Nicaragua’s other neighbor, visited the Vatican.

 

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Further information:

• Laura Fernández se reunió con el papa León XIV en el Vaticano e invitó al pontífice a Costa Rica para 2027 (Infobae, 10/29/26)
• Comunicato della Sala Stampa della Santa Sede: Udienza al Presidente della Repubblica di Costa Rica (Holy See Press Office, 10/29/26)