Pope Leo XIV urged Europe to remember its Christian heritage and embrace it in a speech delivered in France’s northeastern city of Metz on Monday as he wound up the fourth and final day of his visit.
France24 reports the Pope was keen to identify the unifying Christian background that has withstood the test of time and challenges from elsewhere right across Continental Europe as surging mass illegal migration across borders still troubles every nation.
“One cannot speak of Europe without mentioning Christianity,” he said, nodding to historians who record the faith has been present in Europe for nearly 2,000 years, arriving in the 1st century AD.
The pontiff praised European integration, adding working alongside others is a “social and political necessity” and urging E.U. leaders to give “real substance” to words such as freedom, democracy and unity.
Speaking to Jewish, Muslim, Protestant and Orthodox leaders gathered before him, France24 records the U.S.-born pope enthused over Europe.
“Europe has flourished and progressed when it has been able to draw on the best aspects of its past and reinvent them in new and creative ways through encounters with others,” the pope said.
Young people and their future were also collectively addressed in the pope’s speech. He counseled them to be positive for the future:
To young people, I say: have the courage to take up with responsibility the task of promoting peace — in your hearts, in your relationships, within your families, in schools and universities, in your cities and countries, and throughout all of Europe.
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. [emphasis added]
AP notes Leo’s visit to the once staunchly Catholic and officially secular France has been marked by his appeal for Europe to remember its Christian heritage and apply it to today’s ethical and geopolitical challenges.
The message echoes one made earlier this year by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio who told attendees at the Munich Security Conference in Germany the “delusion” of globalism and the decision to allow mass migration into the West threaten the future of Europe and its peoples.
RELATED: Rubio — Mass Migration Is a Crisis That Is Destabilizing the West
Pope Leo on Sunday attended the Catholic shrine in Lourdes where he condemned legislation — recently approved in France — permitting medically assisted dying as “false compassion.”
Speaking to a group of sick pilgrims, Pope Leo declared the ill are not a “burden” but the “beating heart of our humanity and a precious treasure for the Church.”
Huge crowds have met him at nearly every turn — 800,000 were at Leo’s Mass on Paris’ iconic Place de la Concorde — surprising even organizers, as Breitbart News reported.
The turnout confirmed the Church in France appears to be reviving, with baptisms of adults and teenagers hitting record levels this year in France, up 20 percent over 2025.
The AP report goes on to outline later Monday in his final event in France, Leo will celebrate Mass in the cathedral of St. Stephen in Metz.
The cathedral is one of the greatest examples of French Gothic style, with its soaring vaults and stained-glass windows, some of which were designed by the 20th century Jewish artist Marc Chagall.
The colored glass has given the cathedral the nickname the “Lanterne du Bon Dieu,” or “The Good Lord’s Lantern.”
Read Pope Leo’s speech in full here
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