Pope at Audience: Apostolic Journey to France was 'sign of rebirth'
Pope Leo XIV described his September 25–28 apostolic journey to France as a sign of “rebirth,” using the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral as a guiding image. He praised the cooperation among the Church, government, public institutions, civil society, benefactors, and skilled workers in rebuilding Notre-Dame, saying such collaboration should serve the common good and human dignity. The Pope connected prayer at Notre-Dame with a vigil for 80,000 young people in Paris, calling the gathering a sign of hope and pointing to young people’s openness to faith. He also highlighted service to migrants at Maison Bakhita and the growing number of baptisms among young people and adults in France as signs of renewal.
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Pope Leo XIV described his September 25–28 visit to France as a journey of “rebirth,” using the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral as a symbol of renewal in the Church and Europe. At his September 30 general audience, he connected that theme to young people, care for vulnerable people, peace, and cooperation for the common good. 1
The Pope said the fire that devastated Notre-Dame in 2019, and the cathedral’s subsequent restoration and reopening, offered a way to understand the journey. He presented its rebuilding as an example of cooperation among the Church, the state, public institutions, civil society, donors, and skilled workers, and said such collaboration should be guided by respect for human dignity. 1
He also described Notre-Dame as an image of the Church as a community of people rather than a building. He linked the Vespers celebration there with a youth vigil at Paris’s Stade de France, where he said young people showed both exuberance and a capacity for silence and listening; the vigil drew about 80,000 people. 1
Other signs of renewal in Paris included the Maison Bakhita, a center serving people in need, and the rising number of young people and adults seeking baptism in France. At a Mass at Place de la Concorde, which the Vatican News account said drew around 700,000 people, Leo pointed to the widespread distribution of Communion as a sign of the Church’s restoration. 1
At Lourdes, the Pope emphasized that every human life retains inviolable dignity, including in conditions of extreme frailty, and deserves compassionate care and relief from suffering, with support from science. He called the shrine a “sanctuary of the civilization of love.” 1
He also recalled meeting abuse survivors and said he wanted the Church to listen to victims, accompany them in seeking healing, recognize the harm they endured, and work to prevent abuse. During the audience, he urged prayer for peace, including through the rosary in October.
In Metz, the final stop of the trip, Leo recalled the region’s devastation during the Second World War and the work of Robert Schuman, a key figure in European integration. He said Europe emerged from the war as a peace project founded on democracy, solidarity, and fraternity, principles he linked in part to Europe’s Christian roots. 1
The Pope said those foundations could help renew the European project in a more globalized world and highlighted interreligious dialogue as important to that effort. In Metz, representatives of different religious traditions signed the “Metz Appeal” for dialogue and peace. 1
Leo concluded by recalling the trip’s motto, “That the world may have life,” and expressed hope that the visit would bear lasting fruit. He also encouraged Christians to make their faith visible, presenting the public witness he saw in France as an inspiration for the wider Church. 1
Faith, cultural restoration, and cooperation for the common good in Catholic social thought
In Catholic social thought, faith, cultural restoration, and cooperation for the common good belong together. Faith gives Christians reasons to renew culture and serve society; cultural renewal should protect human dignity and foster justice, not impose uniformity; and the common good is advanced through cooperation—including with people who do not share the faith.
Catholic faith is not treated as merely private conviction. It calls believers to bring the Gospel’s moral and spiritual vision into social life, while respecting that citizens may make different political choices in seeking the common good. The Church’s doctrinal reflection on Catholic culture therefore holds together fidelity to the faith and legitimate political diversity; it also urges Christians to express the Catholic intellectual and moral heritage in language that contemporary culture can understand.
This public responsibility is practical as well as cultural. Pius X described Catholic social action as seeking to relieve suffering, improve workers’ and agricultural communities’ economic conditions, and bring public laws into conformity with justice. His account links the religious formation of people with concrete efforts on their behalf.
“Restoration” in this tradition need not mean reproducing a past social order. John Paul II spoke instead of a cultural “refoundation” centered on the person, inalienable rights, and the sacredness of life. He connected that renewal with a culture of welcome, respect, sharing, and solidarity—where people place their freedom at the service of the common good rather than only individual or group advantage.
This gives cultural renewal a moral test: does it help persons and communities flourish, especially by defending dignity and serving justice? Pius X’s call to restore Christ’s place in family, school, and society is accompanied by concern for suffering people and just laws, not merely by a call to reclaim influence. Renewal is thus not simply a project of cultural dominance. It should be evaluated by the goods it serves and the way it treats people.
Catholic social thought does not identify the common good with the interests of Catholics alone. John Paul II described Catholics as working with all people of good will, and said that universal brotherhood means mutual understanding, respect, and solidarity—not uniformity. Benedict XVI likewise presents solidarity and subsidiarity as interrelated principles within a social order grounded in human dignity and directed toward the common good. In simple terms, solidarity calls people to recognize their responsibilities to one another; subsidiarity favors action at the appropriate level, without unnecessarily displacing the contribution of persons, families, and local communities.
Cooperation also requires a willingness to unite efforts and sometimes set aside personal or factional preferences. Pius XI urged Catholics and other people of good will to bring their different knowledge and experience to the common good. He also warned Catholics not to insist on their own proposals at all costs when a greater common good calls for compromise. This is not a claim that every policy is morally acceptable: cooperation remains accountable to justice and to the Church’s moral teaching. But it does mean that shared work for social welfare, education, and economic good can proceed across differences.
The resulting vision is neither withdrawal from public life nor a demand for social uniformity. Faith motivates cultural renewal; renewal is judged by its service to human dignity and justice; and that service is pursued through solidarity, practical cooperation, and respect for legitimate differences.