Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been criticised for wearing an Akubra to Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration mass.

While world leaders and royals alike braved the heat in Vatican City on Sunday, Albanese was one of few wearing a hat.

Dr Claudio Betti, director of Australian Catholic University told Sunrise Albanese’s attire was ‘absolutely not’ within protocol.

‘But of course, the sun was very bad,’ Dr Betti said.

‘Considering it’s a liturgical celebration, men should not wear hats but eventually the protocol had to be changed a little bit because the sun was really hot.

‘And it lasted three hours and a half.’

Very few other attendees were spotted wearing hats.

After a clip of the PM’s hat was shared online, many criticised him for breaking the church’s protocol.

‘A national embarrassment,’ one wrote.

‘Does he know how ridiculous he looks?’ another said.

However, others came to the defence of Albanese, saying it was unreasonable to expect those waiting outside for several hours to forego sun protection.

‘It was an outside service, it was very hot. Common sense to have his hat on,’ one said.

‘If wearing a hat in the sun is breaking protocol, perhaps a new protocol needs to be made,’ another wrote.

Albanese later documented his meeting, minus the Akubra, with the new Pope on social media.

Footage showed the pair shaking hands and sharing a brief conversation.

‘Honoured to attend the inaugural Mass and meet His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, who is in the prayers of Australia’s five million Catholics today,’ Albanese wrote.

Ahead of the ceremony, he told reporters in Rome: ‘It will be a special day for the five million Australians of Catholic faith … and it is a great honour for me to be here representing Australia.’ 

Since arriving in Rome, Albanese has met with Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher and Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli at Domus Australia.

The mass, attended by tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square, began at 10am local time (6pm Sunday AEST). 

Church leaders presented the Pope with the pallium, a vestment that signifies his assumption of the papacy, and a fisherman’s ring, the symbol of the first apostles being ‘fishers of men’ in the gospels.

Albanese said the Pope would be invited to Australia for the International Eucharist Conference in 2028.

If it goes ahead, the trip would mark the first papal visit to Australia in more than a decade and attract thousands of Catholics from around the globe. 

‘As part of this visit we will be inviting his holiness Pope Leo to visit Australia at that time and give us that honour,’ Albanese said.

He will lobby for the visit alongside Australia’s ambassador to the Holy See, former federal minister and Nationals MP Keith Pitt, who also attended the inaugural mass at St Peter’s Basilica on Sunday.

‘It’s been a long time since a Pope has been in Australia,’ Pitt told Sky News. 

He added that the Pope, who hailed from America but spent much of his life in Peru, was ‘a student of the world’.

‘He’s been to Australia a number of times … and I was reminded again this morning by an Archbishop that apparently he loves Tim Tams,’ Pitt said.

Albanese regards himself as Catholic but swore a secular affirmation of office this month rather than a religious oath.

He said he did not often talk about his religious views but they had helped inform his politics.

‘One of my first memories is of Pope Paul VI visiting Pyrmont Bridge Road, Camperdown, across the road from my house,’ he said.

‘My mum took me across to get close to Pope Paul.

‘It was one of the very important moments in my mum’s life. I was just a little kid at the time.’