METZ – Pope Leo XIV called on religious leaders Monday to promote peace, unity and reconciliation as he concluded his visit to France by highlighting the spirit of dialogue that helped lay the foundation for Europe’s post-World War II cooperation.
The pope traveled to Metz, an eastern French city near the borders of Luxembourg and Germany, for an interfaith gathering at a conference center named after Robert Schuman. The French Catholic statesman is widely recognized as one of the architects of European integration.
By choosing Metz as the final stop of his four-day trip, Leo underscored his call for Europe to draw on its long tradition of dialogue while confronting modern challenges including war, migration and growing political polarization.
Addressing Jewish, Muslim, Protestant and Orthodox representatives, Leo pointed to Schuman’s willingness to engage even with former adversaries. He said religious leaders share a duty to build relationships across national and religious boundaries in pursuit of peace.
“Indeed, to invoke God’s name in order to justify violence or oppression is to profane that name,” he said. “Religious discourse must constantly call for the disarmament of hearts and words.”
Large crowds and a military escort
Throughout his trip to France, a nation once known for its strong Catholic identity but now officially secular, Leo urged Europeans to reconsider the continent’s Christian heritage and its relevance to today’s moral and geopolitical debates.
During Sunday’s visit to the Catholic sanctuary at Lourdes, he criticized France’s recently approved medically assisted dying legislation as “false compassion.” The pope also drew enormous crowds across the country. About 800,000 people attended his Mass at Paris’ landmark Place de la Concorde, a turnout that exceeded organizers’ expectations.
On Monday morning, two French fighter jets escorted the Air France charter carrying Leo from Lourdes to Metz.
For his final appearance in France later Monday, Leo was scheduled to celebrate Mass at Metz’s Cathedral of St. Stephen. The landmark is celebrated for its soaring Gothic architecture and expansive stained-glass windows, including works created by 20th-century Jewish artist Marc Chagall.
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The cathedral’s brilliant colored glass has earned it the nickname “Lanterne du Bon Dieu,” or “The Good Lord’s Lantern.”
A statesman who brought former rivals to the table
Schuman’s legacy is closely tied to the Schuman Declaration, issued in 1950, just five years after the end of World War II. The proposal called for France and Germany to place their coal and steel industries under a shared authority, transforming historic competition into cooperation.
As Europe struggled to recover from wartime devastation, the plan rested on the idea that linking the nations’ economies would make another conflict between them “not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible.”
The European Coal and Steel Community became the first in a series of institutions that eventually developed into today’s European Union.
Schuman, who took part in the resistance and was imprisoned by the Nazis, was designated “venerable” by the Catholic Church in 2021. The title represents a step toward possible recognition as a saint.
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