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Pope Leo XIV urged residents of the cosmopolitan Mediterranean principality of Monaco on Saturday to use their wealth, influence and Catholic faith for good, especially to uphold Catholic teaching on protecting the sanctity of life.
The pontiff made a one-day trip to the extravagant enclave, becoming the first pope to visit since Paul III in 1538.
Monaco’s Prince Albert and Princess Charlene met the pontiff at the Monaco heliport, just down the coast from the marina that is home to the mega yachts of the rich and famous.
At the palace, members of the royal family stood in the courtyard waiting for the pope, the women dressed in black and with lace head coverings. Charlene wore white — a protocol privilege granted by the Vatican to Catholic royal sovereigns when meeting popes, known in diplomatic terms as “le privilège du blanc”.
In his opening greeting from the palace balcony, Pope Leo XIV urged Monaco to use its wealth, influence and “gift of smallness” for good. It was important, he said, “especially at a historical moment when the display of power and the logic of oppression are harming the world and jeopardising peace.”
Speaking in French later in the cathedral, the pontiff urged Monaco’s Catholics to spread their faith “so that the life of every man and woman may be defended and promoted from conception until natural death.”
Such terms are used by the Vatican to refer to Catholic teaching opposing abortion and euthanasia.
Monaco is one of the few European countries where Catholicism is the official state religion. Prince Albert recently refused a proposal to legalise abortion in the territory, citing the important role Catholicism plays in Monegasque society.
The decision was largely symbolic, since abortion is a constitutional right in France, which surrounds the coastal principality of 2.2 kilometres squared.
In refusing to allow it in Monaco, Albert joined other European Catholic royals who have taken a similar stand over the years to uphold Catholic doctrine on an increasingly secular continent.
Pope Leo XIV’s one-day visit included a meeting with Monaco’s Catholic community in the cathedral and a Mass in the Louis II stadium. Monaco’s population of 38,000 is heavily Catholic and multinational, with only a fifth of the population actually citizens of the principality.
Additional sources • AP
