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Pope at Audience: Apostolic Journey to France was ‘sign of rebirth’
During his weekly General Audience, Pope Leo XIV recalls various highlights from his recent Apostolic Journey to France from September 25 to 28, and points to the theme of rebirth as a guiding thread.
By Isabella H. de Carvalho
The Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris and “the tragedy it has endured” can “symbolically shed light on this entire Apostolic Journey” to France, “offering a perspective that I would summarize in one word: rebirth,” Pope Leo XIV said during the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on September 30.
Pope Leo XIV visited Paris, Lourdes and the northeastern city of Metz during his Apostolic Journey to France from September 25 to 28. During the visit he met thousands of young people in a stadium, emphasized the importance of defending life at all its stages, and appealed for peace in Europe and across the world.
On the first day of his Apostolic Journey, he celebrated Vespers in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, which was destroyed in April 2019 due to a fire and was then restored and reopened in December 2024.
In his catechesis, Pope Leo thanked all those who welcomed him and participated and emphasized how the rebirth of the Cathedral helps us to understand his whole Apostolic Journey and the fruits it could bring for the future.
Synergy for the common good
The Pope underlined how the disaster of the fire at Notre-Dame and its subsequent rebuilding “sparked a positive reaction at every level,” such as for example the restoration process.
It was an example of collaboration “between the Church, the State, public institutions and civil society,” and helped make the most of “both the generosity of benefactors and the expertise of professionals and skilled workers,” he explained.
This “synergy for the common good” should become “the norm for institutions, political and social forces, and all those with civil and economic responsibilities”, t Pope said. He explained that he conveyed this same message in his meeting with the French authorities and his address at UNESCO.
For the Pope “the fundamental criterion upon which such collaboration must be based” is “the dignity of the human person.”
A Church made up of living stones
Pope Leo also drew a parallel between the Vespers in Notre-Dame and the “unforgettable” prayer vigil he participated in shortly after with 80,000 young people in the Stade de France stadium in Paris.
“Two completely different locations, yet two complementary events, almost united spiritually. What united them? The Church, which is not made up of stones or cement, but of people who love Jesus Christ because they have been loved by Him,” he explained.
At the stadium there was the “new French generation,” not so much because of their age but because of their “spirit” and their “freedom of heart and faith,” the Pope said.
There was singing and shouting but also silence and listening and “attentive and emotional faces, which revealed hearts yearning for truth and love,” the Pope continued, adding that “the Vigil was a great sign of hope.”
For the Pope this same hope was manifested in his visit to Maison Bakhita, a welcome center for migrants, “where people commit themselves every day to serving the dignity of the human person with love.”
Another sign of renewal the Pope pointed to was the growing number of baptisms of young people and adults in France in the last years. During his visit he encouraged them by participating in a provincial synodal assembly underway in Paris, which is responding to “this beautiful ‘surprise’ from God.”
Pope Leo then also recalled his Mass in the central Parisian square Place de la Concorde with around 700,000 people, who filled the iconic Avenue des Champs Élysées, up to the Arc de Triomphe and beyond.
“At the moment of Communion, everyone was able to receive the Eucharist, which was distributed everywhere. This is the true reconstruction, the restoration of the Church that only God can bring about, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary,” he insisted.
Every human life deserved to be cared for
The Pope then turned to his “pilgrimage” to Lourdes and its famous Marian shrine, “a sanctuary of the civilization of love” and the second leg of his Apostolic Journey.
“In Lourdes, the Lord, through the maternal care of the Virgin Mary, conveys to everyone, pilgrims and especially those who are sick in body and spirit, a message of hope and rebirth,” he explained.
“A message that I wished to openly reaffirm: every human life, in whatever condition, even in the most extreme frailty, retains its inviolable dignity and deserves to be cared for, accompanied and relieved of suffering with human compassion and with the aid of the means offered by science.”
He also recalled his meeting with a group of victims of abuse, in which he asked them to help him express to other victims his wish, and that of the Church, “to listen to them and walk alongside them as they seek healing, acknowledging the pain inflicted upon their lives and working to prevent abuse.”
In Lourdes he also participated in a torchlit procession and rosary, which is done every day at the Shrine. In his greetings to the Italian and German speaking faithful during the General Audience he insisted on the importance of praying the rosary for peace amongst all, especially in this upcoming month of October.
The rebirth of Europe after war
Lastly, the Pope touched upon his visit to Metz – “a region of France and Europe ravaged by the Second World War” – and the third and final leg of his Journey.
He cited the figure of Robert Schuman, one of the founders of the European Union who spent much of his life in Metz and promoted peace after WWII.
“Contemporary Europe was indeed born as a project for peace in the wake of the destruction wrought by war. We might say that what happened to Notre-Dame in Paris with the fire was what had happened to Europe during the Second World War,” the Pope reflected.
“And Europe was reborn, founded on those principles of democracy, solidarity and fraternity amongst peoples, which owe much to its Christian roots. Even today, it is on these foundations and with this vital ‘lifeblood’ that the European project can be renewed, in a far more globalized world.”
In this regard he also pointed to the importance of interreligious dialogue, recalling his meeting in Metz with representatives of various faiths where they signed the “Metz Appeal” for dialogue and peace.
Regarding the Second World War, in his greetings to Italian-speaking faithful, Pope Leo XIV also mentioned the beatification in Bologna last Sunday, September 27 of three martyred priests who were killed in 1944 by Nazi troops. “The supreme sacrifice of these ministers of God shows today’s Christians the courage to stand by their brothers and sisters, especially in times of trial,” he added.
Let us not hide our faith
The Pope concluded his catechesis by recalling the motto of the trip “So that the world may have life,” from the Gospel of John, and expressing the hope that this Journey can bring “abundant and lasting fruit.”
In his greetings to the Portuguese-speaking pilgrims he reiterated this idea: “May the public witness of love for Jesus Christ that we have seen in France be an inspiration to the entire Church. Let us not hide our faith!”
A greeting to the Pontifical Irish College and Pontifical North American College
In his words to the English-speaking faithful the Pope also offered “a special greeting to the seminarians from the Pontifical Irish College and the pilgrims attending the diaconate ordination of the Pontifical North American College that will take place” on October 1.
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