Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a stark warning from Rome on Saturday, stating his belief that religious liberty is under severe attack worldwide.
He emphasized that while religious freedom faces challenges in the United States and Europe, these issues are minor compared to the dire situations in nations like Nigeria, China, and Iraq.
Addressing an event co-sponsored by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, the Vatican, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Justice Alito urged, “It is a great matter of concern and something that I think all Christians should be concerned about and should try to find ways of combating this problem.” The gathering was part of the Jubilee, a major Catholic festival held every 25 years, focusing on faith, penance, and forgiveness.
The conservative Catholic justice engaged in an hour-long discussion with Monsignor Laurence Spiteri, a justice emeritus of the Vatican appeals court (primarily handling marriage annulments), held at the Palazzo della Cancelleria, home to the Vatican’s Supreme Court. Alito highlighted the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, and extended his concerns to include the oppression of Muslim Uyghurs in China and attacks on various Muslim sects by the Islamic State in Iraq.
Earlier that day, Justice Alito met with Pope Leo XIV during a general audience in St. Peter’s Square, greeting pilgrims attending the Jubilee. An accompanying image shows Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. at the Jubilee of Justice in the Vatican on Saturday, and another depicts his meeting with Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square.
For many years, Justice Alito has made frequent trips to Rome for teaching and academic conferences, as noted in his financial disclosures. This particular visit aligned with the “Jubilee of Justice,” a special pilgrimage for Catholic legal professionals to the Vatican. The event also marked the first major public appearance hosted by Brian Burch, the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.
When asked about the historical ties between Catholicism and civil governance, Justice Alito clarified that Supreme Court justices “do not have divine authority, and I hope we never stray into thinking that we do.”
He further affirmed the compatibility of his Catholic faith with his judicial profession.
Emphasizing that “reason is a hallmark of the Catholic intellectual tradition,” he expressed his belief that his religion is “entirely compatible” with his secular role as a judge in a nation committed to the separation of church and state.
Alito referenced several significant U.S. religious freedom cases, including a decision he authored allowing parents with religious objections to remove their children from public school classes discussing LGBTQ-themed books, 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, identifying as either practicing Catholics or having been raised in the faith. Justice Alito himself has penned majority opinions in landmark cases, such as the 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which ended the constitutional right to abortion, and the 2014 ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, which found that requiring family-owned corporations to provide contraception coverage violated religious freedom laws.
The audience in the fresco-adorned Palazzo della Cancelleria included American lawyers on a pilgrimage with the Catholic Bar Association, prominent conservative Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke, and Justice Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito. Journalists were not allowed to pose questions directly; instead, Monsignor Spiteri presented pre-submitted questions from the attendees. An accompanying image displays Justice Alito in conversation with Monsignor Laurence Spiteri during their nearly hour-long discussion in Rome.
The details of Justice Alito’s travel arrangements remain unclear. However, it was noted that the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See had extended invitations to all nine Supreme Court justices several months prior, beginning with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
The Supreme Court declined to comment on the matter.
According to the Rev. Paul B.R. Hartmann, associate general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Justice Alito’s presence in Rome was a pre-existing plan.
Father Hartmann suggested that Alito found this a “fortuitous” opportunity to participate. Joshua M. McCaig, a commercial lawyer and founding president of the Catholic Bar Association, also indicated that Justice Alito was in Rome for another, unspecified event.
Justice Alito’s deep Italian roots stem from his upbringing in an Italian-American family in New Jersey, with his father, Samuel Alito Sr., an immigrant from Calabria, southern Italy, serving as a significant role model. When asked about the primary influence on his Catholic faith, Justice Alito credited his mother as his “first teacher in many things, including in the faith.”
During his undergraduate years at Princeton, Justice Alito authored a historical study of Italy’s Constitutional Court. His research concluded that the Italian high court was “deeply divided along lines of ideology and partisan politics; that the justices vote according to their politics on most cases; and that the various factions attempt to form coalitions in order to assemble a majority.”
A yearbook entry from that period notes that he conducted this research “in various sidewalk cafes in Rome and Bologna during the summer of 1971.”
Since joining the Supreme Court in 2006, Justice Alito has maintained his trips to Italy, some of which have sparked controversy. Notably, between 2016 and 2019, he formed a friendship in Rome with Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, a conservative Catholic often associated with Germany’s far right. Princess Gloria, who has publicly hailed Alito as “a hero,” later hosted him at her lavish Bavarian palace for an opera festival celebrating Richard Wagner’s works. An accompanying image shows Justice Alito alongside his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, at the Vatican.
In July 2022, just weeks after authoring the majority opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade, Justice Alito delivered a speech at a religious liberty conference, also in Rome. During that address, he openly mocked critics of the decision, including Britain’s Prince Harry.
He remarked during the speech, “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.”
Since Alito’s previous Rome visit, the U.S. political landscape has changed, with President Trump back in the White House and the Supreme Court frequently ruling in his favor.
Ira C. Lupu, an emeritus professor of religion law at George Washington University Law School, noted that “this time, the side that Justice Alito identifies with is in political power, and aggressively in political power.”
In his remarks, Justice Alito stated that the president, as head of the executive branch, possesses “discretion to enforce the law” and “should be enforcing the law with mercy.”
Josephine de La Bruyère contributed reporting from Rome.