Pope Leo XIV calls for dignity and peace during Paris migrant visit

Pope Leo XIV has called for people to live together in dignity and peace during a visit to a Paris organisation supporting migrants and refugees. The pope made the remarks on Saturday at Maison Bakhita, where he was due to meet people of Christian and Muslim faith from Algeria, Belarus, Iraq and Ivory Coast. The visit formed part of his four-day trip to France.

“I am pleased to begin this second day in Paris with you, in a house that bears witness to the whole city that it is possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace,” Leo said. The visit came as France prepares for elections next year and immigration remains a major political issue. Valerie Moniod, president of the association, said the pope was telling people that, regardless of their political views, they shared a common humanity and a right to dignity.

Leo was later scheduled to lead an open-air Mass at Place de la Concorde and along the adjoining Champs-Élysées. Organisers expected about 600,000 people to attend. President Emmanuel Macron was not expected at the Mass, although several potential presidential candidates, including Marine Le Pen and Edouard Philippe, had confirmed their attendance.

The pope has criticised what he called extremely disrespectful treatment of migrants in the United States and said people should be treated humanely. During the first day of his visit, he also called for ethical safeguards against an AI-driven “paradise of machines” and urged France to remain a champion of peace as war continues in Ukraine. After the Paris Mass, Leo is due to travel to Lourdes.

He is expected to meet seven victims of clerical sexual abuse there on Sunday. A 2021 inquiry found that about 330,000 people had been abused as minors by clergy or lay members of the Catholic Church in France over seven decades. The final stop of the trip will be Metz on Monday, where the pope is expected to deliver a speech about peace in Europe.