Pope Leo XIV told the Bishops of France that the Catholic Church has a prophetic role in public life and urged them to defend its freedom to evangelize, educate and worship publicly.
Pope Leo XIV prayed for France, peace and those who suffer as he visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes on Saturday, September 26, during his apostolic journey to France.
Father François Ponchaud, a member of the Paris Foreign Missions (MEP) society, who had served the Catholic Church in Cambodia for 56 years, died at 85 on January 17, 2027.
“During the night of March 12-13, the door and some of the walls of the facade of the Church of the Sacred Heart were painted with satanic phrases," Press statement.
