Category: Diocese of Scranton News

VATICAN CITY (Vatican News) – The Vatican Publishing House will publish “The Private Diary of Pope Francis,” a book by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, presenting and commenting on the late pope’s notes kept between 1992 and 2024.

The Vatican announced on Oct. 5 that the book will be released simultaneously worldwide in five languages and distributed in 94 countries on Nov. 24. The Italian edition will be published by the Vatican Publishing House; the Spanish, English and Portuguese editions by the respective branches of Penguin Random House; and the French edition by Éditions Albin Michel.

Pope Francis’ notes span more than three decades, including his years as a bishop in Argentina and his 12-year pontificate.

“We are very honoured to publish this text by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, which presents Pope Francis’ diary to the public,” Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication, said.

“Through this book, which we believe readers around the world will appreciate, we will be able to gain an even deeper understanding of the Argentine Pope’s inner life.”

The Vatican Publishing House will present the book to international publishers at the forthcoming Frankfurt Book Fair, which takes place Oct. 7-11.

ROME (OSV News) – At the stroke of midnight Oct. 4, church bells tolled across the Italian hilltown of Assisi to mark the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’ death.

The Oct. 4 feast of the “the Little Poor Man of Assisi” was the pinnacle event amid a yearlong jubilee celebration, which began with the historic exposition of his relics for public veneration.

The feast day celebrations began on Oct. 3 with a night procession and a solemn commemoration of the “Transitus” (“passage”), the traditional Franciscan prayer service in the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels marking St. Francis’ transition into eternal life. The basilica houses the chapel where St. Francis died on the night of Oct. 3, 1226.

About 3,000 people took part in the procession on the eve of the beloved saint’s feast day, singing hymns and voicing prayers as they retraced the route made by St. Francis’ coffin in 1226, walking about 2 miles uphill though the Assisi from the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels to the Basilica of St. Francis where he is currently buried.

The walk ended with a midnight Mass celebrated by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, the pontifical legate for the papal basilicas of Assisi.

Reflecting on the meaning of St. Francis’ transitus, Cardinal Artime told the congregation, “To live well means learning, day after day, to die to ourselves so that we may belong ever more fully to Christ.”

“The things we owned, our achievements, the image we projected of ourselves” will not matter in the end, the cardinal said. “Love will remain. Christ will remain. Francis dies poor, but he dies rich in the only wealth that never dies: the Lord.”

The following morning, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the president of the Italian bishops’ conference, presided over a packed Mass in the basilica attended by Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella. Assisi’s Bishop Felice Accrocca and Cardinal Artime were among the Mass’ concelebrants.

In his homily, Cardinal Zuppi, who just returned from a diplomatic visit to Moscow, said that St. Francis continues to teach us to be peacemakers, bringing the gift of peace “wherever there is violence, hatred and misunderstanding.”
The way forward when “we are tempted and seduced by a vulgar, overbearing and deceptive culture of power,” the archbishop of Bologna added, is to disarm “our hands and our hearts.”

Following the Mass, Italy’s president addressed the crowd gathered in front of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.

“In these times marked by senseless and cruel wars, by so much violence, manipulation and arrogance, as Leo XIV said a few days ago, our hope is that Francis’ sun may illuminate the world, convert minds hardened by hatred, and point the way towards peace, hope and a serene, fraternal life together,” Mattarella said.

Brother Marco Moroni, the custos of the Sacred Convent, announced that, together with local authorities a proposal has been made to establish a children’s hospice in the region as “a lasting, tangible sign of the centenary.”

The celebrations concluded on the evening of Oct. 4 with solemn vespers and a procession led by Bishop Accrocca, who imparted a blessing of Italy and the world from the small dome of the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi using the Chartula relic of St. Francis. The Chartula is a small, fragile piece of parchment written on directly by St. Francis of Assisi in September 1224, two years before his death. The parchment contains the “The Praises of God” on one side and “The Blessing for Brother Leo” on the reverse.

The Jubilee Year proclaimed by Pope Leo XIV celebrating the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi will continue until Jan. 10, 2027.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – The U.S. Supreme Court began its new term Oct. 5, with cases on its schedule involving religious liberty, guns, immigration and the environment.

Among the noteworthy cases the high court will hear this term is St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, a clash between Catholic preschools and the state of Colorado over whether those schools can participate in the state’s universal preschool program.

Mark Rienzi, president and CEO of Becket, a religious liberty law firm representing the preschools in the case, told OSV News that their clients in the case and the Catholic Church in Colorado liked the idea of “a universal pre-K law designed to give every parent in the state the chance to send their kid to any pre-K program they want.” But he said the problem arose because “Colorado’s definition of universal excludes all the Catholic schools.”

“If your school operates according to teachings on sex and marriage that the state of Colorado does not like, Colorado says you can’t be in this program,” he said.

The program provides funds — up to about $6,000 — to parents to send their child to the preschool of their choice, public or private, including faith-based schools. However, Colorado has argued the Catholic preschools ran afoul of a nondiscrimination rule in the program that prohibits participating schools from refusing admission to any child on the basis of the sexual orientation and gender identity of the child or the child’s family.

Rienzi pointed to previous Supreme Court rulings that he said were relevant precedent in the case, including Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, and Carson v. Makin. Each of those cases involved the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

“I suspect the court will have some déjà vu and think that they’ve been here before,” he said.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy on Nov. 3., which is also Election Day for the 2026 midterms.

In another religious liberty case, the court will also consider Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, Inc. v. Frederic, a dispute that began in 2021 over a local zoning ordinance in Kentucky that prevented a religious organization from building a Marian shrine on its own property, which includes a church, because it was zoned as residential.

First Liberty Institute is representing the Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, a group of priests whose status as a public association of the faithful was suppressed in 2024 by Bishop John C. Iffert of Covington. While members of the Missionarities of St. John the Baptist no longer minister at the parish, the organization’s nonprofit corporation owns Our Lady of Lourdes’ church building and property in Park Hills, Kentucky, where the shrine was prohibited. Neither the Diocese of Covington nor Our Lady of Lourdes Parish are parties to the case.

“Telling a church it can’t build a modest place for prayer and reflection on its own property is outrageous,” Kelly Shackelford, First Liberty Institute president, CEO and chief counsel, said in an Oct. 2 statement. “Federal law provides clear protections for how faith-based organizations can use their property to support their mission. This is an important case for religious freedom.”

Asked how he expects the high court to approach religious liberty cases more broadly this term, Rienzi said, “I think the court’s been doing a good job taking religious liberty cases and making clear that religious liberty really protects the right of people to have different beliefs from what the government has, and to live those out, and to be treated fairly and equally in our society while living those out.”

Other cases the court will consider include a challenge to the Trump administration policy of carrying out third-country deportations, or removals to a country where a person who had migrated to the United States has no ties, and its policy of mandatory detention during deportation proceedings.

In Viramontes v. Cook County, scheduled for Dec. 2, the court will hear a dispute over whether local ordinances banning AR-15s and similar semiautomatic rifles, commonly called “assault weapons,” violate the Second Amendment.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in an amicus brief that did not take a side on the constitutional question, urged the court to decide the case “in a manner that preserves the traditional authority of political communities to regulate weapons capable of exceptional violence and that threaten the public peace.”

It stated, “Three principles embedded in our constitutional tradition, and independently affirmed in Catholic teaching, bear on this case: the right of self-defense, which is genuine but not unlimited; the government’’s authority to promote the common good and public safety; and the autonomy of local communities — federalism, which the Church knows as subsidiarity — to calibrate regulation to local conditions.”

During its 2025-2026 term, the high court issued major rulings striking down President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s sweeping tariff policy, but also permitting the Trump administration to reimplement a policy of turning away asylum-seekers along the U.S.-Mexico border before they enter the country, known as “metering,” and to end a temporary designation that shielded eligible Haitian and Syrian immigrants living in the U.S. from deportation. The court also upheld state laws requiring student athletes to compete on sports teams that correspond to their biological sex rather than their self-identified gender, among other key rulings.

The new term also begins as Trump has criticized the justices for ruling against his position in some of those cases. In an interview with Time published Oct. 1, Trump lashed out about the cases he saw as losses, and said he regretted selecting the three justices he nominated to the high court during his first term.

Rick Garnett, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, told OSV News that while Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch do not always agree with each other, “It was never the job of these justices — or of any justice — to somehow pay back the president who nominated them.”

“All three of President Trump’s nominees were and are talented and conscientious lawyers, who take seriously their oaths to the Constitution,” he said. “They do not regard their task as voting for, or against, the president; their task is to decide legal questions that are presented in legal disputes.”

Meanwhile, a recent Marquette Law School Poll national survey found approval of the Supreme Court dipped to 43% in September, down from 47% in July, closer to the conclusion of its previous term. The same poll found 60% of adults said the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Trump administration often or fairly often, while 40% said it has done so rarely or never.

VATICAN CITY (OSV News) – Bishop Louis Tylka of Peoria, Illinois, presented Pope Leo XIV with a relic of the recently beatified Blessed Fulton Sheen during a private audience at the Vatican Oct. 5.

Bishop Tylka was one of four U.S. bishops who met the pope on Monday. The pope also received 75-year-old Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami for an individual private audience, as well as the leadership of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

For the bishop of Peoria, the opportunity to give the Chicago-born pope the relic was “a profound joy and privilege,” especially because of Pope Leo’s personal interest in Blessed Fulton Sheen, who was beatified in St. Louis on Sept. 24 with about 50,000 people in attendance.

“To place a relic of this son of the Diocese of Peoria into the hands of the first American pope, both of whom are from Illinois, was an especially moving moment,” Bishop Tylka said in a statement following the papal audience.

“The Holy Father’s own interest in Archbishop Sheen reminds us that his witness continues to speak to the Church today and challenges all of us to proclaim the Gospel with the same conviction and joy,” the archbishop added.

Msgr. Jason Gray, the executive director of the Peoria-based Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Foundation, also took part in the papal audience.

“I felt that Archbishop Sheen was with us in spirit when greeting Pope Leo,” Msgr. Gray said. “I am grateful that Pope Leo spoke so fondly of Archbishop Sheen, whom he remembered watching when he was young.”

Pope Leo has previously praised Blessed Fulton Sheen as “a light of faith, hope and love that shone through the radio and television media for decades,” as his broadcasts brought the Gospel to millions of Americans.

In comments to OSV News on the papal flight to Paris, France, the American pope recalled spending time with his family as a child watching Archbishop Sheen on television and remarked that he would have liked to attend the beatification.

The pope’s first private audience of the day was with the U.S. bishops’ conference president and vice president, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City and Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas, respectively. The bishops were joined by Msgr. Michael J.K. Fuller, the USCCB general secretary, and Father Paul B.R. Hartmann, associate general secretary.

The papal audience is part of the annual visit made by the leadership of the U.S. bishops’ conference to Rome to meet with offices in the Roman Curia.

Chieko Noguchi, USCCB spokesperson, told OSV News that the meeting was an opportunity to update Pope Leo on the Church in the United States.

“The USCCB is grateful for the opportunities that our bishops have to spend time with our Holy Father and assure him of our support and prayers,” she said.

While in Rome, Archbishop Coakley will participate in the Oct. 7-14 meeting on marriage and family convened by Pope Leo, who called the heads of national bishops’ conferences worldwide as well as the heads of Eastern Catholic Churches to the event, titled “Ten Years After ‘Amoris Laetitia’: Proclaiming the Gospel With Families Today.”

Last week, Pope Leo had private audiences with two other U.S. bishops. The pope met one-on-one on Oct. 1 with Archbishop Paul D. Etienne of Seattle and with Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who presided over the diaconate ordination of 18 American seminarians from the Pontifical North American College during an evening Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

VATICAN CITY (Vatican News) – Pope Leo XIV has dedicated his October prayer intention to mental health ministry, calling on the Church to listen without judging and accompany those who suffer without excluding them.

In a video produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, the pope prayed that the Church may be an “open house” where people facing challenges to their mental health find welcome, dignity and hope.

Holding an image of St. Dymphna, patroness of people suffering from mental disorders and of mental health professionals, Pope Leo addressed the Lord, saying that it is he who knows the innermost depths of our hearts and “the silent wounds that sometimes no one sees.”

“Today we bring before you our brothers and sisters who struggle with challenges to their mental health, who suffer in solitude with anxiety, depression, or any other mental illness,” he prayed.

Pope Leo asked forgiveness for the times when Christians have looked the other way, contributing to stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses.

He prays that the Church may become “a safe space where everyone has a place — a community that accompanies and never excludes, that listens without judging and draws near without fear.”

The pope also remembered those who provide care, including professionals, family members and volunteers, asking God to give them strength and compassion.

“Send your Spirit upon us, that we may learn to welcome and integrate care for mental health into the life and ministry of our communities and of the whole Church,” he said, “and thus become a living sign of your mercy, which never abandons and always restores.”

More than a billion people worldwide live with a mental disorder, while public spending on mental health accounts for barely 2% of health budgets, according to data from the World Health Organization, presented in September 2025.

Jesuit Father Cristóbal Fones, international director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, noted that many people experiencing mental illness have felt unable to speak about it, or have encountered judgement and misunderstanding.

“That is why, as a Church, we come together to open our hearts to this reality and to pray together, throughout this entire month, for all of them and also for those who accompany them,” he said.

Dear Friends,

During his pastoral visit to Spain earlier this year, Pope Leo XIV shared these words: “The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization. Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person. For this reason, the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that are most fragile.”

While the Holy Father addressed these words to the people of Spain, he could have just as easily addressed these words to most any country in the world, including our own. For every step forward that has been achieved in the endless battle to protect human life, there is always an equal and opposite step taken that diminishes respect and reverence for the sanctity of God’s greatest gift.

Human life continues to be threatened far more today than we realize or are willing to acknowledge. While the decades-long fight to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right to abortion, was finally won in 2022, authority to regulate or ban the procedure was returned to individual states. As such, although abortion is prohibited or very limited in numerous states, in August, Massachusetts became the tenth state to allow the procedure at any point in a pregnancy.

What is more, euthanasia and assisted suicide practices are increasingly prevalent in various parts of the world, with assisted suicide currently authorized in thirteen states in our own land. The death penalty, opposed by the Church in recent papal pronouncements, continues to be an option for the punishment of certain crimes. Efforts to achieve human cloning and illicit reproductive technologies continue to be developed. And human trafficking is rampant as well as unjust immigration laws and actions that serve to diminish the dignity of God’s people.

The good news, however, is that the voices of faithful, selfless disciples of Jesus and countless others from different faith traditions continue to be heard in our world, proclaiming the value of human life as the treasured gift of God that it is.

The theme for this year’s Respect Life Month focuses on the Blessed Virgin Mary as Mother of Life. In becoming the mother of Jesus, her acceptance in that unplanned and unforeseen moment demonstrates how each of us is called to welcome the gift of human life, even when that gift is unexpected or calls us to make sacrifices.

This past July in his monthly prayer request, Pope Leo urged Catholics across the globe to join him in praying for respect for human life.

In his prayer, the Pope recognized that “each person is a sacred gift, from the first instant of existence to the final breath of their journey on earth.” He expressed his wish that we learn to “welcome life unconditionally,” to “accompany each stage with respect,” and “to bravely defend those who have no voice.” And the Holy Father concluded his prayer – as I do this letter – by imploring the Lord “to help His Church become a living witness of the Gospel of life, an open home where every life is celebrated, where no one feels unwanted, and where dignity is always honored and protected.”

Faithfully yours in Christ,

Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, D.D., J.C.L.
Bishop of Scranton

SCRANTON – The Catholic Church recognizes the month of October as Respect Life Month and the first Sunday in October is designated as Respect Life Sunday.

The Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, will celebrate Respect Life Sunday Mass on Oct. 4, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Scranton.

The Mass is open to the public. Faithful from across the Diocese of Scranton are invited to attend the Respect Life Sunday Mass and focus on God’s precious gift of human life and our responsibility to care for, protect and defend the lives of our brothers and sisters.

For those unable to attend in-person, the Mass will be broadcast live on CTV: Catholic Television of the Diocese of Scranton and the Diocese of Scranton’s YouTube Channel. The Mass will also be livestream on the Diocese of Scranton website with links provided on the Diocese of Scranton social media platforms.

The theme for the 2026 Respect Life celebration is “Mary, Mother of Life.”

The life of the Blessed Mother teaches us to respect each human life in every stage and circumstance.

Mary’s role as the Mother of Life extends from the Annunciation all the way to the Crucifixion. On Calvary, Mary stood at the foot of the Cross with Saint John. The Gospel tells us: “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his home” (Jn 19:26-27).

With his final breaths on the Cross, Jesus entrusted Mary and the Beloved Disciple to one another, and by extension established a maternal relationship between Mary and the Church.

Jesus’ words were addressed not only to Saint John, but to each one of us. In that moment, the physical mother of Jesus became the spiritual mother of the Church and all the faithful. Saint John went on to take Mary into his home and cared for her as she advanced in age, demonstrating our responsibility to continue our care for human life, from conception to natural death. Mary, who taught us how to nurture human life, became the recipient of that same honor and care.

SCRANTON – While quietly cleaning St. Peter’s Cathedral, young Pat Peyton, the Irish immigrant parish custodian, heard God’s invitation to follow Him more closely.

It was Pat’s response to this call that led him to the priesthood, his ministry to millions of families, and now his cause for canonization. Such a call did not come on the loud and busy streets of Scranton, but in the silent, prayerful space of God’s house.

How do we hear the voice of God today?

Between our calendars and the devices clamoring for our attention, it is easy to overlook life’s most important relationships with God and our family. And the busier and more distracted we get, the more these relationships suffer.

Father Peyton, candidate for Sainthood, reminded us of the Rosary’s power to unite us with both God and our family, for it is in the Rosary that we enter into the silent love of our Blessed Mother and unite as a family through her Son, Jesus Christ.

Join us at St. Peter’s Cathedral on Saturday, October 17th as we pray the Rosary in the spirit of Fr. Peyton to seek God’s blessing and our Lady’s protection over the most important relationships in life: God and family.

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Bishop Daniel E. Thomas of Toledo, Ohio, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, urged the faithful to mark Respect Life Month with prayer, deeper reflection and action.

Respect Life Month is observed every October by the U.S. Catholic Church. This year, the theme chosen is Mary, Mother of Life.

“Our Blessed Mother is our model for upholding the sanctity of all human life in every stage and circumstance. We entrust all our efforts to protect mothers and babies to her motherly care, which we greatly need at this time,” Bishop Thomas said in a Sept. 29 statement.

“Today, with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks,” he said.

The Trump administration has sought to pause multiple state lawsuits seeking to roll back Biden administration-era eased restrictions on mifepristone, a drug commonly used for first trimester abortion, but which is also used in some miscarriage care protocols.

Thus far the administration has left that regulation in effect while seeking to block those challenges, pending a promised FDA safety review, resulting in frustration from pro-life advocates.

“The Food and Drug Administration has enabled a nationwide mail-order abortion industry by allowing the abortion pill to be prescribed in telehealth appointments, sold both at neighborhood pharmacies and online, and often shipped in the mail, circumventing state laws that protect life in the womb,” Bishop Thomas said.

“This means that more women, many of whom have been misinformed about the nature and risks of the abortion pill, will have an abortion alone at home, without any medical supervision,” he continued. “It also sets up additional opportunities for exploitation by violent partners or human traffickers. These affronts to human dignity demand our response.”

Bishop Thomas’ statement echoed joint remarks he and Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, USCCB president, made in early August ahead of the Aug. 18 launch of a nationwide call to prayer and action to mobilize Catholics to address the rising abortion rate and the increased availability of an abortion-inducing drug.

“Every abortion involves the death of a child and harm to the mother. Now with easier access to abortion pills, the abortion rate is tragically climbing, along with increased health risks,” the prelates said.

In his Sept. 29 statement, Bishop Thomas thanked “the many thousands of Catholics across the country who have embraced the nationwide invitation to prayer and action on abortion pills.”

He said he wanted to ask the faithful to “continue our prayers and advocacy throughout the month of October” and invited them to visit the Respect Life Prayer and Action website, https://www.respectlife.org/abortion-pills.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Leo XIV’s journey to France aimed to show that a joyful or serene rebirth is always possible even after tremendous tragedy or terrible suffering, he said.

By visiting the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral, meeting with survivors of abuse and praying at Lourdes, and celebrating the Christian faith openly in the public square of a secular nation, the pope highlighted how the miracle of new life can happen when everyone comes together out of love for one’s neighbor and the common good, he said during his weekly general audience Sept. 30.

As has been customary, Pope Leo used his first general audience after his Sept. 25-28 trip to Paris, Lourdes and Metz in France to tell people about the purpose of his visit and to thank all those who made the journey possible.

He also repeated an appeal he made in France: asking the faithful worldwide to pray the rosary throughout October, “dedicating it in a special way to ending wars and achieving peace.”

The motto of the journey, “That the world may have life,” the pope said in English, “characterized the Gospel-centered nature of my meetings throughout the visit. For God alone, through his grace, can restore the Church and renew humanity, and it was evident to me that this is precisely what is occurring.”

The Cathedral of Notre Dame of Paris, which was restored after a fire destroyed its wooden spire and most of its roof in 2019, “can symbolically shed light on this entire apostolic journey, offering a perspective that I would summarize in one word: rebirth,” he said in his main catechesis in Italian to thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

Rebuilt and “more splendid than ever, the cathedral’s restoration “was a test of the possible collaboration between the Church, the state, public institutions and civil society,” Pope Leo said.

“The synergy for the common good should be the norm for institutions, political and social forces, and all those with civil and economic responsibilities,” he said.

“This is the message I wished to convey” to secular leaders and organizations, he said, “highlighting the fundamental criterion upon which such collaboration must be based: the dignity of the human person.”

According to France’s National Institute of Demographic Studies, the percentage of 18 to 49-year-olds who reported not belonging to any religion grew from 45% in 2009 to 53% in 2020, and 29% of the entire population reported being Catholic.

However, the pope said, there is also “a sign of renewal within the Church in France that has been evident for some years now, namely the remarkable and growing number of young people and adults seeking baptism.”

A tangible and visible sign of rebirth “appeared in a surprising way” during Mass Sept. 26 in Place de la Concorde, which, he said, was a highpoint of his visit. “Priests, the choir and a remarkable crowd extended all the way along the Avenue des Champs Élysées up to the Arc de Triomphe and beyond.” An estimated 800,000 people filled the streets, according to the Vatican.

Despite the vast crowds, “everyone was able to receive the Eucharist,” he said, “This is the true reconstruction, the restoration of the Church that only God can bring about, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary.”

Turning to his visit to Lourdes, he said the shrine dedicated to Our Lady also represents “a message of hope and rebirth,” especially for those who are sick “in body and spirit.”

This was another message “that I wished to openly reaffirm: every human life, in whatever condition, even in the most extreme frailty, retains its inviolable dignity and deserves to be cared for, accompanied and relieved of suffering with human compassion and with the aid of the means offered by science,” he said.

Because Lourdes “represents for the entire world a sanctuary of the civilization of love,” he said this was context for his meeting with a group of people who had experienced abuse by members of the church.

“I asked them to help me express to other victims too my own wish, and that of the whole Church, to listen to them and walk alongside them as they seek healing, acknowledging the pain inflicted upon their lives and working to prevent abuse,” he said.

Lastly, visiting the city of Metz, he said, helped symbolize its role in the process of unifying Europe “as a project for peace in the wake of the destruction wrought by war.”

After two devastating world wars, “Europe was reborn, founded on those principles of democracy, solidarity and fraternity amongst peoples, which owe much to its Christian roots,” Pope Leo said.

“Dear brothers and sisters, may the public witness of love for Jesus Christ that we have seen in France be an inspiration to the whole Church. Let us not hide our faith!” he told Portuguese-speaking pilgrims.