VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis on Nov 5 stepped out of the Vatican and paid a rare home visit to Ms Emma Bonino, a veteran politician best known in Italy for her successful campaign in the 1970s to legalise abortion.

       Pope Francis, leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church, frequently expresses fierce opposition to abortion. He has said having an abortion is “murder” and tantamount to “hiring a hit man”.

       But the pope has also struck up relationships with several anti-clerical Italian figures.

       Ms Bonino, 76, was released from hospital last month after suffering from respiratory and heart problems. Last year, she said she had recovered from an eight-year battle with lung cancer.

       Pope Francis, 87, and himself dealing with occasional health issues, was seen stopping in at her apartment in central Rome after a visit that morning to the nearby Pontifical Gregorian University.

       The Vatican press office confirmed the pope’s visit, but said it would not provide further details. Ms Bonino said she had no comment about the visit.

       She was originally elected to the Italian Parliament in 1976 as a member of the anti-establishment Radical Party, which pushed passage of a law to legalise abortion in 1978, later confirmed by a national referendum in 1981.

       Earlier in his 11-year papacy, Pope Francis was known to meet regularly with Mr Eugenio Scalfari, an avowed atheist who founded the centre-left daily La Repubblica and had been a one-term socialist lawmaker. He died in 2022.

       As he was leaving Ms Bonino's home, the pope was asked by a La Repubblica journalist how the politician was doing.

       “Very well,” he replied, according to a video published by Italian media outlets. REUTERS