METZ, France — Pope Leo XIV urged Europe on Monday to draw from its Christian roots and tradition of dialogue to blunt the “desire for domination” driving today’s wars, as he wrapped up a visit to France by recalling the forces that contributed to the continent’s peaceful integration.
Leo traveled to the eastern city of Metz, near the border with Luxembourg and Germany, to honor Robert Schuman, a French Catholic statesman regarded as one of the founding fathers of European unity after World War II.
Leo decided to end his four-day visit to France in Metz, at a conference center named for Schuman, to drive home his appeal. The American pope wants Europe to draw from its Christian foundations and traditions to respond to Russia’s war in Ukraine and other conflicts.
“Over the past 80 years, Europe has amply demonstrated that it is possible to articulate divergent opinions, claims and interests through encounter rather than conflict,” he said.
“We need to commit ourselves to patient dialogue, to show courage in negotiation and to be willing to give up some positions for the greater good of peace,” he said.
Élysée Palace, the French presidential office, had invited all European Union heads of state and the heads of European institutions to attend the conference, but only a handful, from smaller states such as Monaco, Andorra and Luxembourg, joined President Emmanuel Macron.
Huge crowds and a military escort
Leo’s visit to the once staunchly Catholic and officially secular France has been marked by his appeal for Europe to remember its Christian heritage and apply it to today’s ethical and geopolitical challenges.
It has also been marked by huge crowds at nearly every turn — 800,000 attended Leo’s Mass on Paris’ iconic Place de la Concorde — surprising even organizers.
On Monday morning, Leo’s Air France charter received a military escort of two French fighter jets for the flight from Lourdes to Metz in a sign of respect. Macron tweeted a photo of Leo’s plane taken by one of the jets while in flight, writing “Welcome to Metz, Holy Father.”
Macron joined Leo on stage at the Schuman event, vowing “unfailing” European support for Ukraine and noting that the country is among those aspiring to join the EU and a “space of peace, security, democracy and prosperity.”
“War has come back to our continent and our Europe is rocked by the return of empires,” Macron said. “To guarantee real sovereignty, we must therefore act, act firstly to preserve our security and our values.”
In his final event in France, Leo celebrated Mass in the cathedral of St. Stephen in Metz, a city with a long history of conflict that was part of Nazi Germany during the war.
The cathedral is one of the greatest examples of French Gothic style, with its soaring vaults and stained-glass windows, some of which were designed by Marc Chagall, a 20th-century Jewish artist.
The colored glass has given the cathedral the nickname the “Lanterne du Bon Dieu,” or “The Good Lord’s Lantern.”
As they did in Paris during Saturday’s Mass along the Champs-Élysées, priests in Metz set up makeshift confession stands on the streets to accommodate the faithful who packed the squares around the cathedral.
______
You are reading this Crux Now article for free. You can register for our free daily newsletter here, and you can become a Crux Now supporter for full access to all our premium content here. To find out more about why becoming a Crux Now supporter is a great idea, go here.
