During his weekly General Audience, Pope Leo XIV recalls various highlights of his recent apostolic trip to France from September 25 to 28, and points to the theme of rebirth as a common thread.
By Isabella H. de Carvalho
Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral and “the tragedy it endured” can “symbolically illuminate this entire apostolic journey” in France, “offering a perspective that I would summarize in one word: rebirth”, declared Pope Leo XIV during the General Audience on Wednesday September 30 in Saint-Pierre Square.
Pope Leo XIV visited Paris, Lourdes and Metz during his apostolic trip to France from September 25 to 28. During his visit, he met thousands of young people in a stadium, stressed the importance of defending life at all its stages and launched a call for peace in Europe and the world.
On the first day of his apostolic journey, he celebrated Vespers in Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, destroyed in April 2019 by a fire, then restored and reopened in December 2024.
In his catechesis, Pope Leo thanked all those who welcomed and participated in him and highlighted how the rebirth of the Cathedral helps us understand his entire apostolic journey and the fruits it could bring for the future.
Read the full text of the Pope’s catechesis at the General Audience
Pope Leo during the General Audience (@Vatican Media)
Synergy for the common good
The Pope highlighted how the disaster of the Notre-Dame fire and its subsequent reconstruction “sparked a positive reaction at all levels,” such as the restoration process.
This is an example of collaboration “between the Church, the State, public institutions and civil society”, which made it possible to promote “both the generosity of benefactors and the expertise of professionals and qualified workers”, he explained.
This “synergy for the common good” should become “the norm for institutions, political and social forces, and for all those who have civil and economic responsibilities,” the pope said. He explained that he had conveyed this same message during his meeting with the French authorities and his speech at UNESCO.
For the Pope, “the fundamental criterion on which such collaboration must be based” is “the dignity of the human person”.
Crowds in St. Peter’s Square (@Vatican Media)
A church made of living stones
Pope Leo also drew a parallel between Vespers at Notre-Dame and the “unforgettable” prayer vigil in which he participated shortly after with 80,000 young people at the Stade de France in Paris.
“Two completely different places,” he explained, “and yet two complementary events, almost spiritually united. 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.”
At the stadium, there was the “new French generation,” not so much because of their age as their “spirit” and their “freedom of heart and faith,” the Pope said.
There were songs and cries, but also silence and listening and “attentive and moved faces, which revealed hearts aspiring to truth and love,” the Pope continued, adding that “the Vigil was a great sign of hope.”
For the Pope, this same hope was manifested during his visit to Maison Bakhita, a reception center for migrants, “where people commit themselves every day to serving with love the dignity of the human person.”
Another sign of renewal highlighted by the Pope is the increasing number of baptisms of young people and adults in France in recent years. During his visit, he encouraged them by participating in a provincial synodal assembly underway in Paris, which responds to “this beautiful ‘surprise’ of God.”
Pope Leo then also recalled his mass in the central Parisian square, Place de la Concorde, in front of around 700,000 people, who filled the iconic Avenue des Champs Élysées, all the way to the Arc de Triomphe and beyond.
“At the time of communion, everyone was able to receive the Eucharist, which was distributed everywhere,” he said. “This is the true reconstruction, the restoration of the Church that only God can achieve, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary.”
Pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square (@Vatican Media)
Every human life deserves to be cared for
The Pope then turned to his “pilgrimage” to Lourdes and its famous Marian shrine, “sanctuary of the civilization of love” and second stage of his apostolic journey.
“In Lourdes, the Lord, through the maternal care of the Virgin Mary, transmits to all, to pilgrims and especially to those who are sick in body and spirit, a message of hope and rebirth,” he explained.
“A message that I wanted to openly reaffirm: all human life, in whatever condition, even in the most extreme fragility, retains its inviolable dignity and deserves to be cared for, accompanied and relieved of suffering with human compassion and with the help of the means offered by science.”
He also recalled his meeting with a group of abuse victims, during 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 in their quest for healing, recognizing the pain inflicted in their lives and working to prevent abuse.”
In Lourdes, the Pope also participated in the torchlight and rosary procession, which takes place every day at the Sanctuary. In his greetings to the Italian-speaking and German-speaking faithful during the General Audience, he insisted on the importance of reciting the rosary for peace during this upcoming month of October.
The rebirth of Europe after the war
Finally, the Pope spoke of his visit to Metz – “a region of France and Europe ravaged by the Second World War” – and the third and final stage of his Journey.
He cited the figure of Robert Schuman, one of the founders of the European Union who spent a large part of his life in Metz and defended peace after the Second World War.
“Contemporary Europe was in fact born as a peace project in the aftermath of the destruction caused by war. We could say that what happened to Notre-Dame de Paris with the fire is what happened to Europe during the Second World War,” reflected the Pope.
“And Europe is reborn, founded on these principles of democracy, solidarity and fraternity between peoples, which owe a lot to its Christian roots. Even today, it is on these foundations and with this “vital force” that the European project can be renewed, in a much more globalized world.”
Pope Leo XIV during the General Audience (@Vatican Media)
In this regard, he also underlined 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.
Concerning the Second World War, in his greetings to the Italian-speaking faithful, Pope Leo “The supreme sacrifice of these ministers of God shows Christians today the courage to stand with their brothers and sisters, especially in times of trial,” he added.
Let’s not hide our faith
The Pope concluded his catechesis by recalling the motto of the journey – “So that the world may have life” – and by expressing the hope that his Journey could bring “abundant and lasting fruits”.
In his greetings to the Portuguese-speaking pilgrims, he reiterated this idea: “May the public testimony of love for Jesus Christ that we have seen in France be a source of inspiration for the entire Church. Let us not hide our faith!”
Greetings to the Pontifical Irish College and the Pontifical North American College
In his words addressed to the English-speaking faithful, the Pope also addressed “a special greeting to the seminarians of the Pontifical Irish College” and to the pilgrims attending the diaconal ordination of the Pontifical North American College on October 1.
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