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Pope Leo XIV Urges France to Protect Life During Visit

10:09 AM ETConfirmed

Faith Desk

In Short: Pope Leo XIV, during his first speech in France, urged the country's leaders to protect life and denounced the use of science and technology for profit rather than moral and ethical progress.

Leo XIV also called for an end to nuclear weapons and lamented ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

The pope emphasized that authentic secularity does not exclude religion but values it as an educational resource, urging dialogue between the state and religious institutions.

Leo XIV praised France's motto of 'liberty, equality, and fraternity' as ethical imperatives, especially as technology, including artificial intelligence, advances.

The pope's visit, which began with stops at UNESCO headquarters, Notre-Dame, and a prayer vigil with 80,000 young people, aims to celebrate Catholicism's renewed dynamism in France.

What this adds

Background

What's confirmed

• “Let us not forget that mutual respect and the protection of every human life is a duty incumbent upon each and every one of us,” he said.

What's still developing

• PARIS – Pope Leo XIV, in his first speech during a four-day visit to France, lamented the use of science and technology for profit instead of moral and ethical human progress and said that everyone is responsible for the protection of life.
• Leo urged the country’s political, civil and cultural leaders, as well as French and foreign diplomats, to see that “an authentic secularity” does not exclude religion but values it as an educational resource.
• “An authentic secularity, then, consists not in excluding religion from the public sphere or from education, but in striving to ensure that the State and religious institutions maintain dialogue and join forces in the service of the common good, that the world may have life,” the pope said.
• The pope, who earlier in the day told reporters accompanying him on the flight from Rome that he was traveling to France “as a follower of Jesus Christ who wants to bring peace of Christ throughout the world,” called in his speech for a ban on nuclear weapons and lamented war in the Middle East.
• Addressing French President Emmanuel Macron and other government members at the Élysée Palace, the head of state’s official residence, on Sept.
• End-of-life questions are among the most sensitive issues the pope is expected to address while in France Sept.
• Euthanasia is the intentional ending of a person’s life to relieve suffering.
• It differs from assisted dying, in which the patient takes life-ending drugs himself, under a physician’s guidance.
• The duty to protect and respect life, Leo continued, is “an expression of the authentic ‘secularity’ (laïcité) of the earthly city” since a “Christian engaged in public service and guided by the light of his or her conscience illumined by faith, cannot be considered a proselytizer or a threat to the unity of the nation.” Laïcité is a legal principle strictly separating Church and state in France.
• In a speech at the start of his four-day visit to France, the pope warned against the dangers of AI and other technologies, stressed that 'authentic secularity' should not exclude religion, and urged France to be a 'tireless champion of peace.' Published today at 2:45 pm (Paris), updated at 2:46 pm Le Monde with AFP In an interview with Le Monde, the secretary general of the Research Institute for the Study of Religions at Paris-Sorbonne University looks back at the tumultuous relationship between France and the papacy, from the Middle Ages to Leo XIV.
• Published today at 5:30 am (Paris), updated at 10:26 am Virginie Larousse The four-day visit, both a religious and diplomatic event, is highly anticipated by French Catholics.
• Published today at 4:00 am (Paris), updated at 10:27 am Julien Lemaignen Romain Imbach The pope's trip to France aims to celebrate Catholicism's renewed dynamism in the country, where baptisms among teenagers and adults have risen sharply.

Sources

• Ewtnnewslink
• Le Monde.frlink
• OSV Newslink
• Aleteialink
• Orthodoxtimeslink
• OSV Newslink
• Cruxnowlink
• Abcnewslink
• Friarslink
• Americamagazinelink
• Indcatholicnewslink
• Heraldmalaysialink
• Ewtnvaticanlink
• Warpbeatlink
• Ewtnnewslink
• WarpBeat — background on Pope Leo XIV to Meet French Abuse Survivors Amid Calls for Action link
• EWTN News — video link