He Pope Leo XIV denounced on Saturday the “chasms between poor and rich“in the first speech of his lightning visit to Monacoa tiny catholic principality known especially for its luxury.
This visit of less than nine hours, the first for a dad in almost 500 years to this Mediterranean microstate of less than 2 km2 and 39,000 inhabitants, did not mobilize the crowds expected from neighboring France or Italy, but it allowed the Church of Monaco to show a diversity that goes beyond clichés.
In the palace courtyard, along the popemobile tour and during the misa In the Louis II stadium, the inhabitants, although they were not numerous, hailed the pope waving small yellow and white or red and white flags—the colors of the Vatican and Monaco.
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The American pontiff with Peruvian nationality arrived in the Mediterranean principality shortly after 9:00 a.m.after a helicopter trip from Rome.
It was received by Prince Albert II and his wife, Charleneat the Monaco heliport, noted an AFPTV journalist.
He later went to Princely Palacewhere, from the balcony, he delivered a message with a special echo in this Mediterranean microstate known for its casinos, its billionaires and rampant opulence.
In a speech in French, the official language of Monaco, the pope criticized “the unjust configurations of power, the structures of sin that excavate abysses between the poor and the rich, between the privileged and the discarded, between friends and enemies.“.
“Every talent, every opportunity, every good placed in our hands has a universal destiny, an intrinsic demand not to be withheld, but to be redistributed,” he added in line with the speech of his late predecessor Francis on social justice.
And in a clear reference to world conflicts, he criticized that “the ostentation of force and the logic of prevarication harm the world and threaten peace“.
Laeon XIV, who spent about twenty years as a missionary in poor regions of Perucited in particular Rerum Novarum, the social encyclical published in 1891 by Leo XIII that lays the foundations of the social doctrine of the Church.
Princesses Estefanía, Carolina and Carlota attended the ceremonydressed in black and with mantillas on their heads.
“I’m shaking, it’s a lot of emotion, a huge feeling of pride,” said Alix Pearce, 34, who attended the event with her family.
“The pope unites people,” said Eric Battaglia, a 64-year-old Monegasque musician. “In a world that has been at war for years, thank goodness there are people like that, who try to keep what is human being human.”
‘We are already very generous’
Living in Monaco “represents for some a privilege and, for everyone, a specific call to question their place in the world”the pontiff told his audience.
The prince Albert II recognized that there is an “imperative of solidarity on the part of those who have more resources” and noted that “small states can also contribute to improving the world.”
“We are privileged, yes, but we all have responsibilities, even those who do not enjoy those privileges,” reacted Marge Valentino, a 73-year-old Italian resident. “We are a small town and we are already very generous,” he insisted.
After a meeting with the Catholic community in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conceptionsome 1,500 young people received Leo XIV in a cloud of mobile phones in front of the church of Saint Devota, patron saint of Monaco.
Then, before 15,000 faithful, mostly discreet, the pope offered a mass where reaffirmed the position of the Catholic Church on bioethical issues—euthanasia and abortion—, inviting us to “care for all human existence, from its appearance in the womb until the moment it withers and in all its frailties.”
Monaco, which last year renounced legalizing abortion and strengthened palliative care by rejecting aid in dying, remains one of the last European countries in tune with this doctrine.
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Solo 8% of the 39,000 inhabitants of this territory, of which a quarter are of Monegasque nationality, declare themselves practicing Catholicsstate religion of the principality.
to one Easter week, the most important holiday of the Christian calendarthis visit will also allow us to measure the popularity of the American pontiff, who is more discreet than his predecessor, the Argentine Francis.
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