Pope Leo XIV visited the principality of Monaco on Saturday, where he urged the tax haven’s wealthy residents to “put their prosperity at the service of law and justice.”
Monaco is the second-smallest country in the world after Vatican City, and Leo urged it to use its “gift of smallness” for good.
Leo is the first Pope to visit this small principality since the visit of Pope Paul II in 1538.
Prince Albert hosts the Pope at the Royal Palace
The Pope was welcomed by Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene at the Monaco heliport just off the coast of the world-famous marina.
The journey from Rome took about 90 minutes. Upon arrival, the Pope was heard saying that he was three minutes late.
Other members of the royal family waited for Leo at the palace, with the women wearing black and covering their hair in accordance with Vatican protocol.
However, Charlene wore white – a privilege granted only to some Catholic female royals, known as “le privilege du blanc” – when meeting the Pope.
Inside the palace, the Pope sat with the Prince and Princess and gifted Albert an artwork created by the Vatican’s mosaic studio depicting St. Francis of Assisi, who was canonized for sacrificing his wealth to help the poor.
Also included in Leo’s itinerary was a visit to the microstate’s only cathedral and a mass at a nearby sports stadium.
Pope condemns ‘gap’ between rich and poor
The American Pope gave an address in French from the balcony of the royal palace.
Leo condemned “unjust configurations of power, the structures of sin that drive a wedge between the poor and the rich, between the privileged and the rejected, between friend and enemy.”
Amid many escalating conflicts around the world, Leo called for money to be used for law and justice, “especially at a historical moment when the show of force and the logic of omnipotence injure the world and threaten peace.”
Monaco is also one of the few European countries where Catholicism remains the official state religion, and Albert has in recent years sought to maintain Catholic doctrine on an increasingly secular continent.
Last year, the prince blocked a bill to legalize abortion, citing the role of Catholicism in society. It was a largely symbolic move because abortion is a constitutional right in the small country of France.
Albert used the Pope’s visit on Saturday to emphasize the principality’s Catholic faith.
“This visit is a powerful signal of the principality’s importance within the Catholic Christian world,” he said in an interview with a French newspaper. nice matinee.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko