Between May 22 and 28, Carlos Tomás Morel Diplán, Coadjutor Archbishop of Santo Domingo, carried out an official working visit to Vatican City, headlined by a closed-door private meeting with Pope Leo XIV in the Pontiff’s private office on May 25. This gathering marked the first official face-to-face meeting between the two church leaders since Morel received his appointment to the senior archdiocesan role.
The half-hour conversation centered on two core topics: the current state of pastoral work and church operations across the Dominican Republic, and the key priorities of Morel’s ongoing leadership mission within the Dominican Catholic Church. Notably, the meeting aligned perfectly with the Vatican’s launch of *Magnifica Humanitas*, Pope Leo XIV’s debut encyclical. This landmark papal document tackles the pressing ethical and social questions raised by rapid artificial intelligence advancement, with a central focus on upholding and protecting fundamental human dignity in the fast-evolving digital technological age.
As a key part of his packed Vatican schedule, Morel took part in multiple church-led gatherings and official events organized to coincide with the release of the new papal encyclical. During his private discussion with Pope Leo XIV, the archbishop also extended a formal invitation for the Pontiff to undertake an official visit to the Dominican Republic. Early reports indicate that Pope Leo XIV responded positively, sharing that he holds clear interest in traveling to the Caribbean nation at a future date.
Morel’s week-long visit wrapped up with a series of additional working meetings that brought together senior Dominican diplomatic representatives and senior Catholic clergy based in Rome, including Víctor Valdemar Suárez Díaz, the Dominican Republic’s ambassador to the Holy See. Beyond his official diplomatic and ecclesial engagements, the archbishop also led Eucharistic services and gathered with Catholic community groups from the Dominican Republic based in Rome during his stay in the Italian capital.