Pope Leo XIV in France to Find a Secular Country at Odds with Catholic Teaching on Life
- Pope Leo XIV begins a visit to France on Sept. 25, with the official trip motto "That the world may have life" emphasizing human dignity as he travels to Lourdes to pray.
- Leo's visit lands amid France's 2024 constitutional right to abortion and the National Assembly's recent approval of lethal medication for incurable illnesses, which contrasts sharply with Catholic teaching that life must be defended from conception until natural death.
- In Lourdes, the pontiff confronts a prickly abuse case: Rev. Marko Rupnik is on trial in a Vatican court, accused by more than two dozen women of psychological and sexual abuse; Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas ordered the artist's mosaics covered to spare victims.
- Organizers lengthened the perimeter for the main Mass at the central Place de la Concorde due to larger-than-expected crowds; French bishops expect 1 million people will see the pope during the Sept. 25-28 visit.
- On Day 1, Leo visits UNESCO to promote his AI encyclical "Magnificent Humanity," while concluding Sept. 28 in Metz, where he will meet faith leaders at a European conference on peace amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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Pope Leo XIV in France to find a secular country at odds with Catholic
VATICAN CITY (AP) — When an ailing Pope John Paul II visited the French shrine at Lourdes in 2004, on his last foreign trip, he delivered a forceful condemnation of abortion and euthanasia as he gasped for
Winnipeg Free Press
Pope Leo XIV in France to find a secular country at odds with Catholic teaching on life
VATICAN CITY (AP) — When an ailing Pope John Paul II visited the French shrine at Lourdes in 2004, on his last foreign trip, he delivered a forceful condemnation of abortion and euthanasia as he gasped for air during Mass.
Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September, half a million faithful will converge towards the capital for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV. An Ardéchoise is at the heart of the preparations. Virginie Chalabreysse, original Albenassian, trainer at the Campus Saint-Antoine Marcoussis (Essonne), is mobilized to frame the flowering of the Mass given Place de la Concorde on Saturday.
Pope Leo XIV is preparing to leave for an official visit to France next week, clouded by several sensitive issues, from accusations of sexual abuse against clergy to the country's new euthanasia law.
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