‘Proclaim the Gospel of life,’ Pope Leo says in first papal visit to Monaco in modern era

MONACO (OSV News) — In the principality known for super yachts and sports cars, Pope Leo XIV urged Monaco’s wealthy citizens to remember the poor and protect every human life, calling on them to remember that the Last Judgment “places the poor at its center.”

“Within your community, many people hold positions of considerable influence in the economic and financial spheres,” Pope Leo said in his speech from the balcony of the Prince’s Palace of Monaco March 28.

“The kingdom of God, to which Jesus dedicated his life … comes among us and shakes up the unjust configurations of power — those structures of sin that create chasms between the poor and the rich, between the privileged and the discarded,” he said.

Pope Leo became the first pope in modern history to visit Monaco March 28, traveling the streets of the famed Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit by popemobile, instead of by race car, to meet the faithful of the tiny Catholic Mediterranean principality.

Flanked by Prince Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlene on the palace balcony, Pope Leo addressed an elegantly-dressed Monégasque crowd in his first speech of the quick 13-hour trip to Monaco, the world’s second smallest state after Vatican City. The visit is Pope Leo’s first international journey of 2026 and only the second of his pontificate.

In his speech in the palace, Pope Leo entrusted the Catholic principality with the task of “protecting every human life” and deepening its “commitment to the social doctrine of the Church.”

Roman Catholicism is the official state religion of Monaco, where roughly 82 percent of the population is Catholic.

“You are among the few countries in the world to have the Catholic faith as a state religion,” Pope Leo said in his speech at the Prince’s Palace.

“This faith places us before the sovereignty of Jesus, who calls Christians to become in the world a kingdom of brothers and sisters — a presence that does not cast down but raises up, that does not separate but connects, always ready to protect every human life with love, at any time and in any condition.”

School children in yellow hats eagerly waved the flags of Monaco and Vatican City as Pope Leo traveled by popemobile through Monaco’s famed streets with panoramic views of the Mediterranean below. On the way, he stopped numerous times to bless babies.

At Monaco’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Monaco-Ville, the pope prayed midday prayer with the local Catholic community and members of the royal family, urging Monaco’s faithful to “proclaim the Gospel of life, hope and love.” The cathedral, consecrated in 1911 on the site of a parish church dating to 1252, contains the tombs of Monaco’s royal family, including Princess Grace Kelly, an Irish American Catholic actress from Philadelphia, who married Prince Rainier III there in 1956 and died in 1982.

“Bring the light of the Gospel to everyone so that the life of every man and woman may be defended and promoted from conception until natural death. Offer new pathways capable of stemming the tide of secularism, which risks reducing humanity to individualism and basing social life on the production of wealth,” Pope Leo said.

Catherine Sassi was among the local Monégasque Catholics who prayed midday prayer with Pope Leo.

“It’s a great pleasure, a great honor and we are so happy to welcome His Holiness Leo XIV,” Sassi told OSV News.

“It’s an amazing day,” she said. “I was so pleased to be able to live it with my family, my husband, my two children. And so it will be a day we will always remember.”

Pope Leo then made his way to the Church of St. Devota, one of Monaco’s most cherished religious sites. Dedicated to the patron saint of Monaco, an early Christian martyr from Corsica executed during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian, the chapel lends its name to the first corner of the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit. At St. Devota, the pope met with young people and catechumens, including 70 adults preparing to receive the sacraments of baptism, first Communion and confirmation.

Inside the chapel, he spent a few moments in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and paused to venerate the relics of St. Devota.

Under the bright Mediterranean sun, Pope Leo answered questions from young people and soon-to-be baptized catechumens about how to maintain hope in difficult times, witness to God’s love, and comfort those who feel abandoned by God.

In his speech Pope Leo pointed to the witness of both the ancient Roman martyr, St. Devota, and the modern millennial saint, St. Carlo Acutis.

Highlighting St. Carlo’s Eucharistic devotion, the pope told young people to make time for “prayer, moments of silence and reflection to quiet the frenzy of doing and saying, of messages, reels and chats, and to delve deeper into and savor the beauty of truly and genuinely being together.”

“Monaco is a beautiful country, but its true beauty comes from you, when you are able to look into the eyes of those who suffer or who feel invisible amid the city lights,” he told the young people and those preparing to come into the full life of the Catholic Church.

As Pope Leo was speaking about peace during his meeting with Monégasque youth, yachts in the nearby harbor were blowing their horns in the port. The pope laughed, saying, off-the-cuff, “We also desire peace.”

Pope Leo then attended a private lunch at the residence of Archbishop Dominique-Marie David of Monaco. It was a moment of rest before the day’s culminating event, a 3:30 p.m. Mass at Louis II Stadium.

“Dear young people, do not be afraid to give everything — your time, your energy — to God and to your brothers and sisters, to pour yourselves out completely for the Lord and for others,” the pope told the young crowd at the Church of St. Devota.

“Only in this way will you find an everlasting joy and an ever-deeper meaning in life,” he said. “The world needs your witness to overcome the errors of our time, face its challenges and, above all, to rediscover the sweet taste of loving God and neighbor.”

The day concluded with Mass at Louis II Stadium, the home ground of AS Monaco football club, before a crowd of approximately 15,000 faithful.

Arnold Atiomo Noudem, a 16-year-old high school student in Monaco, was among the thousands of people attending the Mass. He told OSV News that he believes religion is something that unites the very international population in Monaco, adding that he was “very excited that Pope Leo chose to come here.”

In his homily, Pope Leo appealed for peace in the face of war, saying, “Every life cut short wounds the body of Christ.”

“Let us not grow accustomed to the clamor of weapons and images of war,” he said. “Peace is not merely a balance of power; it is the work of purified hearts, of those who see others as brothers and sisters to be protected, not enemies to be defeated.”

In remarks after Communion at the papal Mass, Monaco’s Archbishop David addressed the pope for this affirmation of “how beautiful and luminous the Gospel of Christ is, how it can still give taste and meaning to our lives.”

The archbishop said Pope Leo has “encouraged us to face the challenges of our time without fear, aware that we carry a treasure capable of sustaining hope, ours and that of the world.”

“You have reminded our country that its identity does not consist solely in preserving an inheritance, but that it requires responsibility, selflessness and a sense of service,” he said.

“Encouraged by your presence and your words, we want to again say, ‘Yes, Jesus is the way,'” Archbishop David added. “And we want to walk together, covered by the power of the Holy Spirit, and we want to proclaim the way is open to all and for all. Jesus is the truth that enlightens, liberates and gives meaning to life.”

Pope Leo departed Monaco by helicopter around 5:30 p.m. and headed back for Vatican City.

He arrived in Rome hours later just in time for a packed Holy Week schedule that includes presiding over Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square the following morning at 10 a.m.

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