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Pope Leo XIV will travel on Saturday to the Principality of Monaco, becoming the first pontiff in almost five centuries to visit the Mediterranean enclave.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the visit would offer the American Pope his first real opportunity to address the whole of Europe.
“In the Bible, it is the little ones who play a significant role,” Bruni said.
Monaco is also one of the few European countries where Catholicism is the state religion. And Prince Albert II of Monaco has recently rejected a proposal to legalise abortion, citing the important role of Catholicism in Monegasque society.
The decision was largely symbolic, since abortion is a constitutional right in France, which surrounds the 2.2-square-kilometre coastal principality.
Bruni said that the “defence of life” would be one of the themes of Leo’s one-day visit on Saturday. However, the spokesman stressed that the pontiff’s vision is set in a broader context of defending all life, including in situations of war and conflict.
An unexpected destination
The visit includes a private meeting at the palace with Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco, a meeting with the Catholic community in the cathedral and a Mass at the stadium.
Albert met Leo at the Vatican on 17 January and invited him to visit the principality.
The trip came together quickly and has raised questions about the choice of Monaco, a hereditary constitutional monarchy, as the first European stop. Pope Francis also made frequent trips to small countries, but the principality’s glitz and glamour would probably have put him off.
“It is inevitable that questions should be asked,” admitted Abbot Christian Venard, spokesman for the diocese of Monaco. “Is it really the right place for a Pope to go to a principality known – in a somewhat caricatured way – as a paradise for billionaires, even if that is part of Monaco’s reality? I think it reflects a certain inner freedom on the Pope’s part,” he told the Associated Press.
In fact, there are good reasons for the visit: no pope has set foot there for 488 years, since the time of Pope Paul III in 1538. With around 38,000 inhabitants, Monaco is largely Catholic and highly international:only a fifth of residents are citizens of the principality.
A short but symbolic trip
Leo will stay in Monaco for just under nine hours and, given the short distance, will be able to fly to and from the Vatican by helicopter. But the visit is rich in symbolic meaning, as it represents a meeting between the leaders of the two smallest states in the world to discuss some of the most important issues on the global agenda.
With Russia’s war in Ukraine still raging and the conflict involving the United States and Israel in Iran widening, Leo is likely to reiterate his appeal for peace and dialogue.
“The principality promotes dialogue and mediation, acting as a laboratory for peace, social friendship and a responsible use of influence and wealth,” Bruni said.
He was referring to Monaco’s financial support for initiatives in favour of Christians in the Middle East, including its participation in the Aliph Foundation, which works in particular to rebuild and restore churches and other sites of cultural importance that have been damaged or destroyed by conflict.