In the principality known for super yachts and sports cars, Pope Leo XIV urged Monaco’s wealthy citizens to remember the poor and protect every human life, calling on them to remember that the Last Judgment “places the poor at its centre”. Source: OSV News.
“Within your community, many people hold positions of considerable influence in the economic and financial spheres,” Pope Leo said in his speech from the balcony of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco March 28.
“The kingdom of God, to which Jesus dedicated his life … comes among us and shakes up the unjust configurations of power — those structures of sin that create chasms between the poor and the rich, between the privileged and the discarded,” he said.
Pope Leo is the first pope in modern history to visit Monaco, travelling the streets of the famed Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit by popemobile to meet the faithful of the tiny Catholic Mediterranean principality.
Flanked by Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene on the palace balcony, Pope Leo addressed an elegantly-dressed Monégasque crowd in his first speech of his 13-hour trip to Monaco, the world’s second smallest state after Vatican City. The visit is Pope Leo’s first international journey of 2026 and only the second of his pontificate.
In his speech, Pope Leo entrusted the Catholic principality with the task of “protecting every human life” and deepening its “commitment to the social doctrine of the Church”.
At Monaco’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Monaco-Ville, the Pope prayed midday prayer with the local Catholic community and members of the royal family, before making his way to the church of St Devota, where he met with young people and catechumens, including 70 adults preparing to receive the sacraments of baptism, first Communion and confirmation.
Pope Leo then attended a private lunch at the residence of Archbishop Dominique-Marie David of Monaco. The day concluded with Mass at Louis II Stadium, before a crowd of approximately 15,000 faithful.
FULL STORY
‘Proclaim the Gospel of life,’ Pope Leo says in first papal visit to Monaco in modern era (By Courtney Mares, OSV News)
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