Pope Leo XIV today advocated that “the infinite dignity of each brother be honored” and that those who economy and culture reduce today to slavery be “liberated” during a meeting with migrants in Paris.
© Lusa
26/09/2026
by
Lusa
Nthe second day of his visit to France, the leader of the Catholic Church visited today the center Maison Bakhita, named after the Sudanese saint who was a slave, Josefina Bakhita, and who since 2019 has housed migrant and exiled persons of different nationalities or confessions, in the XVIII district of Paris, one of the districts with the largest foreign population in the capital.
“The history of the Church and of humanity (...) is not written by those who give the impression of winning by imposing themselves and occupying space, but by those who “out of space”, establish peace processes, arouse trust and encourage life,” he said.
According to local officials, this visit sends a message a few months from the French presidential elections, in which the issue of immigration promises to be at the heart of the debates again.
Since his election as Pope in May 2025, Robert Francis Prevost has regularly appealed to the defense of the dignity of exiled people and refugees, not hesitating to criticize the migration policy of American President Donald Trump.
For today a solemn Mass is planned which the Pope will preside in the Praça da Concordia and in the Champs Elysées (14 a.m., Lisbon time), in which some 600,000 faithful should participate, under strong security.