U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a stark warning to an audience in Rome this past Saturday: he believes religious freedom is facing severe challenges worldwide.
While acknowledging pressures on religious liberty in the United States and Europe, Justice Alito emphasized that these concerns are minor compared to the dire situations in nations such as Nigeria, China, and Iraq.
“This is a matter of profound concern, and I believe all Christians should actively seek solutions to combat this issue,” Justice Alito stated. His remarks were made during a significant event co-hosted 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, the Catholic Church’s quadrennial celebration focused on faith, penance, and forgiveness.
In a nearly hour-long discussion held on Saturday afternoon at the Palazzo della Cancelleria in central Rome—home to the Vatican’s Supreme Court—Justice Alito engaged in conversation with Monsignor Laurence Spiteri, a justice emeritus specializing in marriage annulments. A conservative Catholic himself, Justice Alito highlighted the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, and also drew attention to the plight of Muslim Uyghurs in China and the targeting of Muslim sects in Iraq by the Islamic State terrorist group.
Image: Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. at the Jubilee of Justice in the Vatican.
Credit: Vincenzo Livieri/Reuters
Earlier that morning, Justice Alito had a brief encounter with Pope Leo XIV during an audience in St. Peter’s Square, where pilgrims had gathered for the Jubilee celebrations.
Justice Alito’s financial disclosures reveal a long history of visits to Rome, where he frequently teaches or attends academic conferences. This particular visit aligned with the “Jubilee of Justice,” an occasion for Catholic legal professionals to undertake pilgrimages to the Vatican. It also marked the inaugural major event organized by Brian Burch, the newly appointed U.S. ambassador to the Holy See.
Image: Justice Alito meeting Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square.
Credit: Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press
Addressing a question regarding the interplay between Catholic history and civil governance, Justice Alito clarified that Supreme Court justices “do not possess divine authority, and I hope we never mistakenly believe we do.”
He further added that, from his perspective as a Catholic, his faith aligns well with his professional duties.
“Reason is a cornerstone of the Catholic intellectual tradition,” he asserted, explaining that this conviction makes his religious beliefs “entirely compatible” with his position as a secular judge within a system that maintains separation of church and state.
Justice Alito cited several significant U.S. religious freedom cases, including a decision he authored that permits parents with religious objections to remove their children from public school classes when LGBTQ-themed storybooks are discussed. He also referenced a ruling affirming that Maine could not bar religious schools from participating in a state tuition program.
The U.S. Supreme Court currently has a notable Catholic presence, with all six conservative justices and one liberal justice, Sonia Sotomayor, either actively practicing or having been raised in the faith. Justice Alito has penned majority opinions for some of the court’s most impactful rulings in recent decades, including the landmark 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which ended the constitutional right to abortion. He also authored the 2014 ruling that found requiring family-owned corporations to provide contraception coverage violated a federal religious freedom law.
The Saturday evening audience, held in a chamber adorned with Renaissance frescoes by Giorgio Vasari, included American lawyers on a pilgrimage with the Catholic Bar Association, prominent conservative Cardinal Raymond Burke, and Martha-Ann Alito, the Justice’s wife. While journalists were not permitted to pose questions, Monsignor Spiteri facilitated the discussion by asking pre-submitted questions from the attendees.
Image: Justice Alito’s nearly hour-long conversation with Monsignor Laurence Spiteri in Rome.
Credit: Andrew Medichini/Associated Press
The arrangements for Justice Alito’s travel remain undisclosed. It was revealed 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 visit to Rome was pre-planned.
“I believe it simply serendipitously aligned that he found himself in Rome and able to participate,” Father Hartmann commented. Joshua M. McCaig, a commercial lawyer and co-founder of the Catholic Bar Association, corroborated that Justice Alito was attending another event in Rome, though specifics were not provided by either individual or the Justice himself.
Justice Alito boasts deep familial roots in Italy, having been raised in an Italian-American household in New Jersey by an Italian immigrant father. He frequently acknowledges his father, Samuel Alito Sr., originally from Calabria, southern Italy, as a significant role model. When asked about influences on his Catholic faith on Saturday, 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 analysis 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 notes that Justice Alito conducted research for this paper “in various sidewalk cafes in Rome and Bologna during the summer of 1971,” as reported by The Daily Princetonian.
Since his appointment to the Supreme Court in 2006, Justice Alito has frequently returned to Italy, though some of these excursions have generated significant controversy. Notably, between 2016 and 2019, he formed a friendship in Rome with Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis. The princess, a staunch conservative Catholic and a polarizing figure in Germany due to her connections with the far-right, famously dubbed the Justice “a hero.” She extended an invitation for him to visit her expansive 500-room Bavarian palace, where they attended an opera festival honoring the works of German composer Richard Wagner.
Image: Justice Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann Alito, at the Vatican.
Credit: Vincenzo Livieri/Reuters
Another contentious visit occurred in July 2022, shortly after Justice Alito penned the majority opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade. During a religious liberty conference in Rome, he publicly ridiculed critics of the decision, including Britain’s Prince Harry.
During that speech, Justice Alito remarked, “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.”
The U.S. political landscape has evolved significantly since Justice Alito’s previous Rome visit. With President Trump back in the White House, the Supreme Court has consistently sided with the executive branch.
“This time, the faction Justice Alito aligns with holds substantial and assertive political power,” observed Ira C. Lupu, an emeritus professor of law at George Washington University who specializes in religion.
In his recent comments, Justice Alito stated that the president, as the head of the executive branch, “is someone who has discretion to enforce the law” and “should be enforcing the law with mercy.”
Josephine de La Bruyère contributed reporting from Rome.