Pope Francis kicked off a four-day visit to Luxembourg and Belgium Thursday with an appeal for international diplomacy and negotiations amid flaring conflicts across the globe.
The 87-year-old pontiff, who looked tired upon arriving in Luxembourg, planned to use his time in the two countries that host many of Europe’s top institutions to discuss the continent’s role in the world.
After a meeting with authorities at the Grand Ducal Palace, Francis decried “the re-emergence, even on the European continent, of rifts and enmities” that result “in open hostilities, leading to destruction and death”.
“There is an urgent need for those in authority to engage resolutely and patiently in honest negotiations in order to resolve differences,” Francis told the assembly.
“Honourable compromises,” he said, “undermine nothing and can instead build security and peace for all.”
Though he cited neither conflict by name, Francis has deplored a lack of progress in negotiations to end the war in Gaza and has repeatedly pleaded for peace since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
“Luxembourg can show everyone the advantages of peace as opposed to the horrors of war,” the pontiff said, highlighting the Grand Duchy’s wealth and its role as a democratic bastion and the seat of numerous European institutions.
– Fatigued –
Francis looked visibly tired as he arrived in the country, where he was welcomed by Grand Duke Henri, his wife Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa, Prime Minister Luc Frieden and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, a close friend of the pontiff.
Recovering from a mild flu following a gruelling Asia-Pacific trip, aboard the papal plane he broke with his custom of individually greeting the journalists travelling with him, telling them “I don’t feel able.”
Upon landing he intermittently used a wheelchair and walking cane.
But he seemed to regain vigour and stamina as he greeted dignitaries and young people during what is the first papal visit to Luxembourg in almost 40 years.
The Argentine pope, who has relied on a wheelchair since 2022 because of knee pain and sciatica, has suffered increasing health problems in recent years.
Nevertheless, he completed this month his longest trip in duration and distance since he became head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, visiting four countries over 12 days in Southeast Asia and Oceania.
The pontiff had appeared cheerful and energised by the trip, but on Monday cancelled his daily audiences because of a “mild flu”, with the Vatican saying he needed rest.
After his morning speech, Francis greeted members of the public during a popemobile tour under tight security, with families holding umbrellas and Luxembourgish flags braving the rainy weather to catch a glimpse of the pontiff.
The head of the Catholic Church was due to meet a few hundred faithful at Notre-Dame Cathedral on Thursday afternoon, during his eight-hour stay in the wealthy financial services hub.
Jean Ehret, a priest and director of the Luxembourg School Of Religion & Society, described the visit as “historic” and “unexpected”, quipping that the small Grand Duchy does not usually top a pontiff’s travel list.
In 1985, John Paul II celebrated what remains the largest mass in Luxembourg’s history, attended by around 60,000 worshippers.
The small nation’s population has since almost doubled to 654,000, thanks in particular to the attractiveness of its financial centre.
– ‘New impetus’ –
Sandwiched between Belgium, Germany and France, landlocked Luxembourg is home to the European Investment Bank and the Court of Justice of the European Union among other European institutions, and has one of the world’s highest rates of gross domestic income per capita.
About 41 percent of Luxembourgers are Catholic, according to the Vatican.
“Pope Francis is visiting a very different society to the one seen by John-Paul II,” political analyst Philippe Poirier told AFP. “In 1985, 79 percent of Luxembourgers said they had a religion, of which 90 percent were Catholic.”
The Luxembourg stop begins a tour that will take Francis to Belgium on Thursday evening for a three-day stay partly devoted to meeting victims of clerical sex abuse, and culminating with an open-air mass on Sunday.
During his weekly general audience, Francis said he hoped his visit to the two countries could be “the opportunity for a new impetus of faith” there.
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