Pope Leo to address Europe’s role in world on final day of France visit – Europe live
Pope Leo is expected to deliver a major speech on Europe’s role in the world as he wraps up his four-day trip to France, which attracted hundreds of thousands of people in Paris and Lourdes over the weekend.
On Saturday,
“Hundreds of thousands of people lined the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris on Saturday to attend an open-air mass with Pope Leo, on the second day of his visit to France.
The Vatican estimated 700,000 people turned out for the outdoor mass with the 71-year-old American pope – about 100,000 more than the number of people who had registered to attend.”
On Sunday, he “has called on the Catholic church to heal ‘deep wounds’ and ‘painful errors’, before a meeting survivors of child sexual abuse.”
“Leo met seven survivors of child sexual abuse by French clergy privately on Sunday after leading an open-air morning mass at Lourdes, one of the most popular Catholic sites for pilgrims and reputed as a place of healing.
The survivors said the pope had listened to them, was informed of their cases and said more work was needed to respond to the scandal.”
On his final day in France, Leo is now expected to take part in a meeting “At the Roots of Europe for Peace and Unity” at the Robert Schuman Centre in Metz.
A former French foreign minister and a devout Catholic, Schuman was one of the key European leaders and founders of what has now become the European Union, after his 1950 Schuman declaration brought to life a European Coal and Steel Community. There are regular calls for his beatification, with Pope Francis putting him on the path – a very long path – in 2021.
The pope is expected to talk about Europe’s history, the need for peace in Ukraine, and warns against rising nationalism. France’s Emmanuel Macron invited representatives from all EU member states to attend, although it’s not clear who will actually be there in the audience.
I will bring you all the key lines here.
Elsewhere, I will bring you all the updates from EU defence ministers meeting in Brussels, Ukraine and across the continent.
It’s Monday, 28 September 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Key events
Back to Pope Leo, he is now in Metz.
Apart from the personal connection with Robert Schuman, the city is specifically located which makes it a very apt place for a speech on united Europe: it’s just 43 kilometres away from the Schengen triple border point where France, Germany, and Luxembourg meet.
But before his speech on Europe, Pope Leo will take part in an interfaith meeting. I will pick it up again when he’s back for the main speech.
Elsewhere, Sweden’s Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson said she had failed to form a government with the three other parties in the left-wing bloc following the country’s 13 September general election.
“Based on the discussions I have had, I can conclude overall that there is currently no possibility for me to form a government,” she told reporters.
Her announcement comes as the new parliament meets for the first time today.
The speaker of parliament will be elected later today, and the first sign of trouble emerged as over the weekend the Left Party appeared to endorse a centre-right incumbent, Andreas Norlén.
Andersson pointed to this decision as the evidence of the talks failing, SVT reported.
The new (or reappointed) speaker will be expected to task another party leader, likely outgoing prime minister Ulf Kristersson, with trying to form a government.
On the way to Metz, the aircraft carrying Pope Leo was accompanied by two French air force Dassault Rafale C fighter jets.
A list published by the French media says that former European Commission president Jean Claude Juncker will be among those attending the speech, alongside the Luxembourgish PM Luc Frieden.
Josep-Lluis Serrano Pentinant, bishop of Urgell and the co-prince of Andorra (the other co-prince being France’s Emmanuel Macron, now that’s a fact for your next pub quiz) will also be there.
No word on representatives of other countries as of yet, though.
Pope Leo is expected to deliver a major speech on Europe’s role in the world as he wraps up his four-day trip to France, which attracted hundreds of thousands of people in Paris and Lourdes over the weekend.
On Saturday,
“Hundreds of thousands of people lined the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris on Saturday to attend an open-air mass with Pope Leo, on the second day of his visit to France.
The Vatican estimated 700,000 people turned out for the outdoor mass with the 71-year-old American pope – about 100,000 more than the number of people who had registered to attend.”
On Sunday, he “has called on the Catholic church to heal ‘deep wounds’ and ‘painful errors’, before a meeting survivors of child sexual abuse.”
“Leo met seven survivors of child sexual abuse by French clergy privately on Sunday after leading an open-air morning mass at Lourdes, one of the most popular Catholic sites for pilgrims and reputed as a place of healing.
The survivors said the pope had listened to them, was informed of their cases and said more work was needed to respond to the scandal.”
On his final day in France, Leo is now expected to take part in a meeting “At the Roots of Europe for Peace and Unity” at the Robert Schuman Centre in Metz.
A former French foreign minister and a devout Catholic, Schuman was one of the key European leaders and founders of what has now become the European Union, after his 1950 Schuman declaration brought to life a European Coal and Steel Community. There are regular calls for his beatification, with Pope Francis putting him on the path – a very long path – in 2021.
The pope is expected to talk about Europe’s history, the need for peace in Ukraine, and warns against rising nationalism. France’s Emmanuel Macron invited representatives from all EU member states to attend, although it’s not clear who will actually be there in the audience.
I will bring you all the key lines here.
Elsewhere, I will bring you all the updates from EU defence ministers meeting in Brussels, Ukraine and across the continent.
It’s Monday, 28 September 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
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