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.
Leo made a one-day trip to the glitzy enclave, becoming the first pope to visit since Pope Paul III came in 1538. As a cannon boomed in a ceremonial salute, Prince Albert and Princess Charlene met Leo at the Monaco heliport, just down the coast from the marina that is home to the megayachts of the rich and famous.
At the palace, members of the royal family stood in the courtyard waiting for Leo, 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, Leo 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 jeopardizing peace.”
Speaking in French later in the cathedral, Leo 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,” he said.
Such terms are used by the Vatican to refer to Catholic teaching opposing abortion and euthanasia.