Pope Francis deplores ‘re-emergence’ of war kickstarting Luxembourg, Belgium visit

Pope Francis kicked off a four-day visit to Luxembourg and Belgium Thursday (26 September) with an appeal for international diplomacy and negotiations amid flaring conflicts across the globe.

The 87-year-old pontiff, who looked tired on arrival in Luxembourg but soon regained vigour, planned to use his time in the two countries that host many of Europe's top institutions to discuss the continent's role in the world.

After meeting with the authorities at the Grand Ducal Palace, Francis decried "the re-emergence, even on the European continent, of rifts and enmities" that result "in open hostilities, leading to destruction and death".

"There is an urgent need for those in authority to engage resolutely and patiently in honest negotiations in order to resolve differences," Francis told the assembly.

"Honourable compromises," he said, "undermine nothing and can instead build security and peace for all."

Though he cited neither conflict by name, Francis has deplored a lack of progress in negotiations to end the war in Gaza and has repeatedly pleaded for peace since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

"Luxembourg can show everyone the advantages of peace as opposed to the horrors of war," the pontiff said, highlighting the Grand Duchy's wealth and its role as a democratic bastion and the seat of numerous European bodies.

Fatigued

Francis appeared tired early Thursday as he arrived in the country, where he was welcomed by Grand Duke Henri, his wife Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa, Prime Minister Luc Frieden and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, a close friend of the pontiff.

Recovering from a mild flu following a gruelling Asia-Pacific trip, aboard the papal plane he broke with his custom of individually greeting the journalists travelling with him. "I don't feel able," he told them.

Upon landing he intermittently used a wheelchair and walking cane.

But he seemed to regain stamina as he greeted dignitaries and young people during what was the first papal visit to Luxembourg in almost 40 years.

The Argentine pope, who has relied on a wheelchair since 2022 because of knee pain and sciatica, has suffered increasing health problems in recent years.

After his morning speech, Francis greeted members of the public during a popemobile tour under tight security.

Families holding umbrellas and Luxembourger flags braved the rainy weather to catch a glimpse of the pontiff.

Georges Carlos Fernandez, from the southern town of Esch-sur-Alzette, complained that the pope's eight-hour visit was "too short".

The 68-year-old was there in person during the 1985 visit by John Paul II -- who stayed two days and celebrated what remains the largest mass in Luxembourg's history, attended by around 60,000 worshippers.

Fernandez was nevertheless happy to see that "despite the rain" a lot of people had come out to greet Francis along a route lined with police.

Security staff intervened briefly to tackle several animal rights activists protesting bullfighting, including a woman who was bustled off to one side after jumped in front of Francis's vehicle.

'New impetus'

In the afternoon the head of the Catholic Church met a few hundred faithful at Notre-Dame Cathedral, where he pleaded for an open and joyful church, welcoming of others.

Jean Ehret, a priest and director of the Luxembourg School Of Religion & Society, described the visit as "historic" and "unexpected". The small Grand Duchy does not usually top a pontiff's travel list, he quipped.

Since John Paul's visit in 1985, the small nation's population has almost doubled to 654,000, thanks in particular to the attractiveness of its financial centre.

Sandwiched between Belgium, Germany and France, landlocked Luxembourg is home to the European Investment Bank and the Court of Justice of the European Union among other European institutions. It has one of the world's highest rates of gross domestic income per capita.

About 41% of Luxembourgers are Catholic, according to the Vatican.

"Pope Francis is visiting a very different society to the one seen by John-Paul II," political analyst Philippe Poirier told AFP. "In 1985, 79% of Luxembourgers said they had a religion, of which 90% were Catholic."

From Luxembourg, the pope was headed Thursday evening to Belgium for a three-day stay partly devoted to meeting victims of clerical sex abuse and culminating with an open-air mass on Sunday.

During his weekly general audience, Francis said he hoped his visit to the two countries could be "the opportunity for a new impetus of faith" there.