Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. delivered a powerful message in Rome on Saturday, expressing his belief that religious liberty faces significant challenges globally.
While acknowledging pressures on religious freedom in the United States and Europe, the Supreme Court justice stressed that these concerns are minor compared to the dire situations in countries such as Nigeria, China, and Iraq.
“This is a matter of profound concern, and something I believe all Christians should address and actively work to combat,” Justice Alito stated during an event co-sponsored by the United States Embassy to the Holy See, the Vatican, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. This gathering was part of the Jubilee, a sacred year-long celebration of faith, penance, and forgiveness occurring every 25 years.
During a conversation lasting nearly an hour at the Palazzo della Cancelleria in central Rome—home to the Vatican’s Supreme Court—Justice Alito spoke with Monsignor Laurence Spiteri, a justice emeritus of the Vatican appeals court, which primarily handles marriage annulments. A conservative Catholic, Justice Alito highlighted the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, alongside the oppression of Muslim Uyghurs in China and attacks on Muslim communities in Iraq by the Islamic State terrorist group.
Earlier that morning, Justice Alito also had a brief encounter with Pope Leo XIV during an audience in St. Peter’s Square, attended by pilgrims participating in the Jubilee.
Justice Alito has a long history of visiting Rome, often for academic conferences or teaching engagements, as indicated by his financial disclosures. This particular trip coincided with the “Jubilee of Justice,” drawing Catholic legal professionals on pilgrimage to the Vatican. It also marked the first major event hosted by Brian Burch, the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.
When asked about the relationship between Catholic tradition and civil governance, Justice Alito remarked that Supreme Court justices “do not possess divine authority, and I hope we never mistakenly believe we do.”
He affirmed his view that his Catholic faith is fully compatible with his professional duties.
“I believe reason is a fundamental aspect of the Catholic intellectual tradition,” he explained, suggesting that this makes his religion “entirely consistent” with his role as a secular judge in a nation committed to the separation of church and state.
He referenced several U.S. religious freedom cases, including his authored decision allowing parents to remove their children from public school classes discussing LGBTQ+ themed storybooks due to religious objections, and a ruling that prevented Maine from excluding religious schools from its state tuition program.
The U.S. Supreme Court currently has a strong Catholic presence, with all six conservative justices and one liberal justice, Sonia Sotomayor, either practicing or raised in the Catholic faith. Justice Alito has been the majority author in several landmark decisions, including the 2022 reversal of Roe v. Wade, which ended the constitutional right to abortion, and the 2014 ruling that found forcing family-owned corporations to cover contraception violated federal religious freedom laws.
The Saturday evening event, held in a fresco-adorned chamber by Renaissance painter Giorgio Vasari, was attended by American lawyers on pilgrimage with the Catholic Bar Association. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a prominent conservative Catholic, and Martha-Ann Alito, the justice’s wife, were also in the room. Journalists were not allowed to ask questions, but Monsignor Spiteri presented pre-submitted questions from the audience.
The arrangements for Justice Alito’s travel remained unclear. The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See had extended invitations to all nine Supreme Court justices, starting with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., several months prior.
The court declined to comment on the matter.
Rev. Paul B.R. Hartmann, associate general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, indicated that Justice Alito’s presence in Rome was pre-planned.
“It seems it just conveniently aligned that he was already going to be in Rome and could participate,” Father Hartmann remarked.
Joshua M. McCaig, a commercial lawyer from Kansas City, Mo., and founder of the Catholic Bar Association, also stated that Justice Alito was in Rome for an unrelated event, though neither Mr. McCaig nor Father Hartmann specified what that event was.
Justice Alito has deep Italian roots, having grown up in an Italian-American family in New Jersey, with his father, Samuel Alito Sr., an immigrant from Calabria, southern Italy, serving as a key role model. On Saturday, when questioned about the greatest influence on his Catholicism, Justice Alito cited his mother as his “first teacher in many things, including in the faith.”
During his undergraduate years at Princeton, Justice Alito penned a historical study on Italy’s Constitutional Court, concluding that the nation’s highest court was “profoundly divided along ideological and partisan lines; that justices vote according to their political views in most cases; and that various factions seek to form coalitions to secure a majority.”
His yearbook entry notes that he conducted research for this paper “in various sidewalk cafes in Rome and Bologna during the summer of 1971,” according to The Daily Princetonian.
Justice Alito has continued his Italian travels since joining the Supreme Court in 2006, with some trips sparking controversy. Between 2016 and 2019, while in Rome, he reportedly forged a friendship with Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, a conservative Catholic figure known for her controversial ties to Germany’s far right. The princess, who once called the justice “a hero,” extended an invitation to him to her 500-room Bavarian palace, where they attended an opera festival celebrating Richard Wagner’s works.
In July 2022, shortly after authoring the majority opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade, Justice Alito publicly mocked critics of the decision, including Britain’s Prince Harry, during a religious liberty conference in Rome.
“I had the honor this term of writing, I think, the only Supreme Court decision in the history of that institution that has been lambasted by a whole string of foreign leaders, who felt perfectly fine commenting on American law,” he recounted during the speech.
The political landscape in the United States has evolved since Justice Alito’s previous Roman visit. With President Trump back in the White House, the Supreme Court has frequently sided with the president.
This time, the political faction Justice Alito identifies with holds, and aggressively wields, political power, observed Ira C. Lupu, an emeritus professor specializing in religion at George Washington University Law School.
Justice Alito remarked that the president, as the head of the executive branch, is “someone who possesses the discretion to enforce the law” and “should administer the law with mercy.”
Josephine de La Bruyère contributed reporting from Rome.