Before assuming STF presidency, Fachin visits Papa Leão 14

A few days before taking office as President of the Supreme Court (STF), Minister Edson Fachin was on Saturday (20) at the Vatican, where he met Pope Leo XIV.

The Pope hosted, in St. Peter’s Square the Jubilee of Justice Operators, a meeting aimed at judges, lawyers, prosecutors and other law professionals and attracts delegations from around the world.

Due to the large number of pilgrims this year, the event had to be moved to the outside of St. Peter’s Square, where a structure was set up so that the Pope could be closer to those present.

Catholic, Fachin watched the speech of Leo XIV, in which the pontiff said that justice “cannot be reduced to the mere application of the law or the action of the judges.” He went on to stating that “justice materializes when it turns to others, when each one is given to what is due to it, until it achieves equality in dignity and opportunities.”

In another passage, in citing St. Augustine’s teachings about the relations between state, justice and faith, Pope Leo XIV said that “without justice the state cannot be managed; it is impossible for law to be right in a state where there is no true justice.”

Following the speech, Fachin got in line and greeted the Pope. The minister funded his own trip, which was held in articulation with the National Confederation of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB).

Possession

Fachin takes office as president of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) in a ceremony scheduled for September 29. Minister Alexandre de Moraes will be sworn in vice.

Both were elected in August in a symbolic vote by the plenary, as the ministers take turns to two -year terms in the head of the judiciary, with an antiquity in court as a criterion.

As president of the STF in the 2025 to 2027 biennium, Fachin will have the power to organize the Plenary’s agenda and chair the sessions, in which he is responsible for conducting the work.

In office, Fachin will also have to perform the administrative function of commanding the judiciary, being responsible, for example, for conducting the elaboration and forwarding the budget of that power.