For a pope who appeared to have time on his side, cancer has raised questions about his longevity and brought a new urgency to his plans for the church.
Pope Leo arriving at a hospital in Rome ahead of his surgery on Tuesday. The cancer diagnosis changes the outlook for a pope whose relative youth suggested he might have decades to reign.
Speaking in France, the pontiff lauded postwar efforts to unify the continent. Experts saw it as a critique of President Trump’s repeated berating of European leaders.
In Metz, in northeastern France, Pope Leo XIV spoke of a Europe that would “continue to flourish and to inspire the whole world.” President Emmanuel Macron of France looked on.
Asked about the Trump administration’s restrictions on journalists, Leo told reporters accompanying him on a flight to France that they were “all welcome.”
After visiting Africa, Pope Leo’s four-day trip to France shows how he is seeking to appeal to Roman Catholicism’s original heartlands as well as to the church’s newest strongholds.
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