Leo XIV calls to seek solutions to "humanitarian crises" like that of Ceuta

BarcelonaPope Leo XIV asked this Friday to find ways to respond to "humanitarian crises" like the one in Ceuta. Before landing in France, where he begins a four-day visit, Leo XIV assured in a meeting with journalists on the plane heading to Paris that he has followed the crisis "from the first day" and added that it has been caused by "different causes". The Pope already referred to the situation in Ceuta in the Sunday Angelus prayer on August 2 and pointed out that he was following the situation with concern.

On the flight to Paris, the pontiff also referred to the veto by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, on some media outlets. "Media coverage of everything and for everyone is very important," he said regarding the controversial exclusion of CNN, MSNBC and Politico from accessing the White House. Finally, the journalists from the three media outlets have returned to the White House, even though the Trump administration wanted to maintain the veto despite the court order for their accreditations to be restored. "I am very happy that you are all here," said the Pope.

Leo XIV begins a visit to France this Friday that will take him to the sanctuary of Lourdes and the municipality of Metz. Upon arrival in Paris, the Pope was received by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, with whom, after the protocol reception for a head of state, he held a first meeting in the authorities' lounge at Orly airport. In his speech at the Élysée Palace, Macron defended French secularism, and assured that "it is not at all the denial of religion," but rather the freedom to believe or not to believe and the separation between the state and religious confessions.

The pontiff's first visit to France has aroused great expectation in the country, to the point that bells all over the country have rung for seven minutes to welcome him. The visit has two key moments: the meeting of Leo XIV with young people at the Stade de France, which is expected to be attended by 80,000 people, and the mass that will be held on Saturday at the Place de la Concorde, for which more than 600,000 faithful have registered, who will fill the Champs-Élysées and the surrounding streets.

Sexual abuse and euthanasia

The visit of Leo XIV to France comes almost three years after the one his predecessor, Francis I, made to Marseille to participate in a conference on the Mediterranean. "I am going to Marseille, not to France," specified the then-pope, who prioritized trips to the periphery. Francis I also visited Strasbourg and Ajaccio, but they were lightning visits for specific events. In contrast, Leo XIV has recovered major visits to European countries and, as he already did in Spain, the pontiff's agenda in France aims to revive Catholicism, which is at a low ebb in a country that prides itself on secularism. Some of the controversial points of the visit will be sexual abuse within the French Church and the advancement in France of the right to euthanasia. The country definitively approved in July the law that legalizes euthanasia and assisted suicide, and it is expected that, one way or another, Leo XIV will refer to this issue.

Apart from the meeting at the Élysée with Macron, Leo XIV will also hold meetings with civil society and will visit the headquarters of UNESCO. He will also make a journey in the popemobile from the church of Notre-Dame des Champs to the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, where he will preside over a religious service. From there he will go to the Stade de France, on the outskirts of Paris, to hold a massive event with young people. Saturday's agenda will be the most social, with a visit to a support center for refugees and migrants in Paris, and then he will hold mass in the center of the French capital. In the afternoon, the pontiff will move to the sanctuary of Lourdes, one of the most popular spots in the country for Christians. On Sunday, he will hold a meeting at the sanctuary with bishops from across the country and will officiate a mass. He will also receive, in a personal capacity, seven victims of abuse in the French Church.

The Pope's visit will acquire a European dimension on Sunday with the visit to Metz, land of the French politician Robert Schuman, one of the fathers of European construction, currently in the process of beatification. Macron will not attend any religious act, but will be present at the speech that the pontiff will deliver, to which the Élysée has invited the heads of state and government of the EU. The mass at the cathedral of the French capital and an interreligious meeting will close the events of Leo XIV's visit to France, who will leave for Rome on Monday night.