Bishop Jean-Marc Micas reflects on the spiritual weight of the papal visit to France at a moment marked by the legalization of euthanasia and a revival of Catholic faith among the youth.
Following Pope Leo XIV’s highly anticipated visit to France later this year, the Marian shrine of Lourdes may take center stage in the Church’s ongoing efforts to defend the sanctity of life and the dignity of the most vulnerable.
The visit to Lourdes will be the second stage of the Pope’s Sept. 25-28 journey to France, which will take place just two months after the country adopted its controversial law legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide. It is at this shrine where the Pope is expected to address this controversial question, which has strongly mobilized the French episcopate over the past two years.
“Like many others, I can’t wait to hear what the Holy Father will say to the political class,” Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes told the Register. “I trust the Pope to relay and even reinforce what the Church in France has not stopped hammering home on this subject.”
Pope Leo XIV’s
