By The final day of the pontiff’s visit to France focused on peace and unity in Europe.
METZ, France — Pope Leo XIV on Monday urged Europe to return to its roots, including its Christian heritage, while also engaging with the people from other cultures now living within it.
Referring to the large presence of immigrants in Europe, Leo said, “We must grasp the historical significance of what is taking place, namely an unprecedented encounter between peoples and cultures, which calls us to rediscover our roots in new and creative ways, while at the same time listening carefully to others.”
“The universal character of Europe’s founding values assures us that this dialogue is possible and that it can provide a solid foundation for our societies, enabling us to work more effectively for peace and a reconciled world,” he said Sept. 28.
The pope also encouraged Europe to help migrants enter safely and legally and to integrate into the community “as if they were part of one’s own family.”
The pope addressed European leaders at the Robert Schuman Conference Center in Metz on the final day of his Sept. 25-28 visit to France. The title of the event was “To the Roots of Europe for Peace and Unity.”
Metz is a city just 27 miles from the Schengen tripoint, where the borders of Luxembourg, France, and Germany meet — an area rich in significance for European history.
The city is linked to Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, who lived there and is buried nearby.
Schuman, a French statesman whose leadership was shaped by two world wars and by his Catholic faith, used politics to work for reconciliation among nations. He was declared “venerable” by Pope Francis in 2021 in recognition of his heroic virtues.
“Robert Schuman, who lived through a time of constantly shifting borders, helped to lay the foundations of a Europe that was aware of the urgent need to tear down the walls that were dividing it,” Leo said.
Schuman’s Christian formation, the pontiff continued, “taught him the value of equality, without distinction of race or social class, and the dignity of work. The succession of different national sovereignties taught him the importance of international law and the value of keeping one’s word. … Schuman committed himself to peace and fraternity among peoples who, after having been in conflict for so long, finally recognized their need for each other.”
Among those present in the 1,200-seat auditorium were the heads of the bishops’ conferences of Europe, abbots and abbesses of local monasteries, French President Emmanuel Macron, Prince Albert II and Princess Charlène of Monaco; Grand Duke Guillaume and Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Luxembourg; Prime Minister Luc Frieden of Luxembourg and Anke Rehlinger, minister-president of Saarland in the Federal Republic of Germany.
In today’s multicultural context of Europe, Leo said, it is important to affirm the universal character of values such as those contained in the preamble of the Treaty on European Union: “the inviolable and inalienable rights of the human person, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law.”
Quoting Schuman, the pope said, “World peace cannot be safeguarded if constructive efforts are not made commensurate with the dangers that threaten it.”
In a closing message to the young people of Europe, he encouraged them to “take up with responsibility the task of promoting peace … Do not give in to the mentality of violence and oppression.”
“Love life at every moment, and do not be afraid of the future! Do not be afraid to start a family, to bring children into the world, to defend the dignity of every person, from the moment of conception to death,” he said.
Interreligious meeting
Earlier in the morning, Pope Leo met in another room of the conference center with the chief rabbi of France and representatives of Muslims, Buddhists, Protestants and Orthodox Christians in France.
After a musical performance, an interreligious declaration was read and signed by the religious leaders present, including Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, president of the French bishops’ conference.
In his message to the assembly, Leo said the greatness of a religion is measured by the way it cares for and protects human beings, including the most vulnerable, from conception to death.
“If the fruitfulness of religious traditions is seen above all in their service of peace and fraternity, it is also expressed in their ability to protect, accompany and serve life,” he said.
“The greatness of a civilization is not measured by its material achievements, but by the way it cares for, protects and upholds the human person,” the pope said, adding that “Religions are guardians of life, for they affirm its sacred value.”
“For those of us who are open to transcendence, our mission is to offer sound points of reference, especially to young people, to help build a communion that respects and upholds the dignity of every human person,” he said.
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A significant continuation of intellectual blather that has little reference to the reality of the destruction of Christian Europe by hostile Islam. It seems Leo XIV will remain faithful to his predecessor rather than the truth of the matter.
Well said, Father. The Truth will make us free.
Well, at least he didn’t go so far as Francis did when he once told a group of youg people to listen to the atheists. We have a lot to learn from the atheists.
WE READ: “In today’s multicultural context of Europe, Leo said, it is important to affirm the universal character of values such as those contained in the preamble of the Treaty on European Union: “the inviolable and inalienable rights of the human person, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law.” We also read: “Pope Leo XIV on Monday urged Europe to return to its roots, including its Christian heritage, while also engaging with the people from other cultures now living within it.”
An urgently needed and INTRICATE MESSAGE to deliver, especially since the charter for the EU recognizes the Classical taproot of Europe, but not the additional Christian taproot—to a Europe that is a providential and most extraordinary “event” in universal human history—more than political and economic geography.
MANY CONVOLUTIONS are erased by our ideologically progressive Periodization of History (C.S. Lewis’s “chronological snobbery”). Even within Europe, the meeting of Pope Leo XIV with Protestant leaders presupposes a version of history that need not have happened at all…As an Augustinian priest, Luther lit a match to the haystack after Tetzel’s abusive marketing of indulgencies seeped into his jurisdiction and even his confessional.
The BUTTERFLY EFFFECT of falsified Indulgences?….Marketed to help pay for construction of St. Peter’s Basilica Rome; because the Church’s historical Peter’s Pence collections were being retained within the Holy Roman Empire; skimmed partly to fund resistance to invading Muslims in the East; a boundary distraction for both the Pope and the Emperor and that helps account for delayed attention to the Luther detail, and therefore the tragic fueling of “protestant” political ferment and no-longer intra-religious tensions. A rupture now in its fifth century with no end in sight—while divided Europe also entertains the third Islamic invasion (repulsed earlier at Tours in A.D. 722, and at Vienna in A.D. 1683).
QUESTION: Inter-religiously and interculturally, how now to re-evangelize Europe to then assure a well-grounded “rule of law,” even with the camel’s nose already under the tent? That is, a quite different rule-of-law—rooted as it is in the alternative/non-Trinitarian and pre-Christian universe (not chronologically) of Sharia Law?
Asked whether he would consider a modern constitution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Mostafavi Khomeini (1900-1989) responded: “I have a constitution; it’s the Qur’an.”
The Bishop of Rome understands well the proper meaning of the Lord’s words.
That is why
He punishes severely any illegal entering the Vatican grounds, and why the bishop of Rome keeps the Vatican walls, and why the bishop of Rome keeps the Swiss guards around the Vatican armed with heavy automatic weapons:
Vatican Promises Stiff Penalties for Illegal Aliens Crossing its Border
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/01/16/vatican-promises-stiff-penalties-for-illegal-aliens-crossing-its-border/
The bishop of Rome correctly understands that the Lord’s words mean that
“SHOWING HOSPITALITY TO WAYFARERS IS DIFFERENT FROM OFFERING THEM PERMANENT RESETTLEMENT.”
And that,
“EVERY HUMAN BEING HAVING DIGNITY DOES NOT IMMEDIATELY AND OBVIOUSLY SUPERSEDE THE SOVEREIGNTY OF NATIONS,” “STATESMEN HAVE A SACRED DUTY TO SAFEGUARD THE POLITICAL COMMON GOOD OF THEIR COUNTRY, AND THIS WILL SOMETIMES MEAN RESTRICTING WHO CAN LEGALLY ENTER AND REMAIN IN THEIR COUNTRIES–such as the Vatican state.”
For this clarification of the all too common obfuscation of the truth, confusing “hospitality” with allowing people to enter and stay in a nation (where our wife and children and family live!) without permission and scrutiny (THE WHOLE POINT OF REQURING FOREIGNERS TO APPLY FOR A VISA AT A CONOSULATE OR EMBASSY), see
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2026/09/10/catholic-theologian-takes-job-in-trumps-department-of-homeland-security/
We Christians can all practice the hospitality to strangers that the Lord advised, without waiting for the “government” (meaning taxpayers money) or “Catholic Charities” (which also get huge amounts of taxpayers money) to do it for us by practicing it with illegal aliens (“migrants”).
All we have to do is invite into our home, say, for dinner, one or more of the many homeless strangers in the Democrat run cities. There are plenty of people like that who would welcome our Christian hospitality and kindness in our own home.
This does not mean to offer them permanent resettlement in our home. All we have to do is invite them in for some hospitality. That is what the Lord meant. Individual action. Not for nations to open borders to a mass invasion of strangers.
So, try it. Invite a homeless stranger in. If with children, even better and more kind.
Let us be an example of Christian hospitality and charity. Personally. Individually. As the Lord surely meant it. He did not mean open national borders for a mass invasion of strangers.
Sorry, Pope Leo, but you are being intentionally deceptive by referring to alien invaders from foreign countries “migrants”.
Let me set you straight. A “migrant” is a person WELCOMED into a country from outside its borders. Typically, they are WELCOMED to perform work of a given nature and then it is expected that they RETURN TO THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN. In some places, these migrants might be permitted to apply for permanent residency or even citizenship. But that is the prerogative of the host country.
Once you understand, Pope Leo, you can then speak truthfully.
The Bishop of Rome is very safe in his Vatican, which keeps its walls and its Swiss Guards armed with heavy automatic weapons, and which punishes severely any illegal crossing it borders:
Vatican Promises Stiff Penalties for Illegal Aliens Crossing its Border
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/01/16/vatican-promises-stiff-penalties-for-illegal-aliens-crossing-its-border/
Meanwhile, the less fortunate rest of the Europeans suffer the results of the illegal immigration promoted by the Bishop of Rome:
SEX CRIME RISES ACROSS EUROPE AS WESTERN NATIONS TOP THE LIST
FIGURES REVEAL A WIDENING DIVIDE BETWEEN HIGH-CRIME WESTERN STATES AND FAR LOWER RATES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE.
ROMAIN PERROCHEAU / AFP
New figures from Eurostat show that sexual violence offences across Europe continued to rise in 2024, with sharp differences between Western and Eastern countries likely to intensify debate over the link between crime and migration.
Police recorded 256,302 SEXUAL VIOLENCE OFFENCES IN 2024, INCLUDING 98,190 CASES OF RAPE.
This represents a 5% increase in sexual violence overall and a 7% rise in rape compared with 2023.
OVER THE PAST DECADE, THE TREND HAS BEEN SHARPLY UPWARD: SEXUAL VIOLENCE OFFENCES HAVE NEARLY DOUBLED SINCE 2014, WHILE RAPE CASES HAVE SURGED BY 150%.
A breakdown by population highlights striking regional disparities.
Nordic and Western European countries dominate the top of the list, with Sweden reporting 200.98 cases of sexual violence per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Iceland, Finland, France, and Belgium.
By contrast, several Central and Eastern European countries, WHICH PROTECT THEMSELVES VS ILLAAL ALIENS AND SUFFER FAR LOWER RATES OF ILLEGAL ALIENS, report significantly lower rates, including Hungary (5.10), Lithuania (5.79), and North Macedonia (7.17).
Similar patterns appear in other categories of crime.
SPAIN, BELGIUM, PORTUGAL, FRANCE, AND GERMANY RANK AMONG THE HIGHEST FOR ROBBERY, BURGLARY, AND THEFT, WHILE MONTENEGRO, SLOVAKIA, AND HUNGARY SIT AT THE LOWER END.
Drug-related offences also show similar gaps, with Sweden, France, and Belgium reporting far higher rates than countries such as Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia.
Rising crime levels in Western Europe have been increasingly linked to increased migration. Reports from countries such as Spain, Italy, France, and Germany have indicated that foreign nationals are overrepresented among suspects in certain categories of violent crime.
IN FRANCE, NON-EUROPEAN FOREIGNERS MAKE UP 5.7% OF THE FRENCH POPULATION, BUT ACCOUNT FOR 14% OF HOMICIDES AND UP TO 30% OF VEHICLE THEFTS.
In several German states, including Bavaria, Berlin, and Baden-Württemberg, roughly half of all suspects in violent crimes are non-German nationals.
AS WE REPORTED EARLIER, REPORTS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE HAVE INCREASED ALONGSIDE RISING IMMIGRATION LEVELS IN COUNTRIES SUCH AS SPAIN, ITALY, FRANCE, BELGIUM, AND GERMANY.
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/sex-crime-rises-across-europe-as-western-nations-top-the-list/
The left wingers and even the “compassionate” (towards the illegals but not towards the victims, for whom thee are no marches, no proclamations, no pryaers…) CC claim unemployment etc. as reasons for the rising crime by “immigrants” (the weasel word normally used to refer to illegal aliens). How unemployment would relate to wanting to rape a child, a woman or even a man is not explained.
Day by day Europe is growing in stature. Europeans and people from different cultures, backgrounds, languages, and religions are making Europe the center of the world all over again.
Concern, hospitality, compassion, solidarity, and welcome remain the high points of the European way of proceeding. Other continents will not like to be left far behind. It is a healthy race.