(Catholic Herald) — Leo XIV delivered strong calls for the defence of human life at every age during his visit to UNESCO on Friday, before encouraging French Catholics to renew their Catholic life and evangelisation while celebrating Vespers at Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Building on themes contained within his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo continued his focus on the meaning of humanity, during the first day of his apostolic voyage to France. Having already met with President Emmanuel Macron and the assembled politicians, Leo was transferred to UNESCO headquarters to deliver his address, before then presiding over pontifical Vespers at Notre-Dame.
In each stop of his first day, the pontiff focussed on themes relating to the human person. Addressing parliament, he defended the sanctity of life to Macro’s face. At UNESCO he emphasised the importance of working from the Christian teaching regarding the sanctity of life and all that this entails. This necessarily involved Leo decrying any attempts to end life via abortion or euthanasia. Then in Notre-Dame the Pope pointed to the spiritual aspect of man, urging those present to redouble their efforts of evangelisation, leading people to Baptism and worshipping God in rightly ordered liturgies.
The rest of this correspondent’s report, originally published on the Catholic Herald, is found at this link.