In the first speech of his apostolic voyage to France, Pope Leo strongly denounced surrogacy and assisted suicide, delivering a firm warning to President Emmanuel Macron about the proper relationship between Church and state.
Fresh from a 50-minute private meeting with Macron, Leo XIV stood at the podium in the Elysée Palace for the first public address of his whistle-stop tour of France. The speech, as is customary in the early stages of a papal voyage, was addressed to the assembled politicians, diplomats and civil authorities. Also present were some of the firemen who tackled the 2019 fire that devastated the Cathedral of Notre-Dame – which Leo will visit at the end of his first day.
