Pope Francis lands in Luxembourg, first leg of rare European trip

Pope Francis, center, is received by Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Henri, right, as he arrives at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxenbourg to start his four-day visit to Luxembourg and Belgium, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Pope Francis arrived in Luxembourg on Thursday (September 26, 2024) for a brief visit to one of Europe’s smallest countries ahead of a weekend trip to Belgium, where he will highlight the needs of migrants and meet a group of survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy.

The tour is a rare European visit for the Pope, who has tended to go to places never visited by a pope, or where Catholics are a small minority. It comes less than two weeks after Francis returned from a demanding 12-day, four-country tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania.

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The 87-year-old pontiff – who uses a wheelchair due to knee and back pain – got off the chartered ITA Airways flight on a mobile lift.

He was greeted at Findel International Airport by Luxembourg monarch Grand Duke Henri, Grand Duchess Maria Theresa, Prime Minister Luc Frieden and a group of about 100 schoolchildren, all wearing maroon sweaters.

The pope will later hold private meetings with the grand duke and Prime Minister before giving a speech to the country’s political authorities. He will also meet local Catholics at Luxembourg City’s Notre-Dame Cathedral.

“In Belgium, he will hold a private meeting with 15 survivors of abuse, the country’s ambassador to the Vatican, Patrick Renault,” said.

More than 700 complaints and reports of abuse involving the church have been made in Belgium since 2012, according to a church report. In March, the pope expelled from the priesthood a former Belgian bishop who admitted to sexually abusing two nephews.

On Friday morning, the pope is due to meet Belgium’s King Philippe and Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, and then give a speech.

On the flight from Rome Thursday (September 26) morning, the pope briefly greeted the journalists travelling on the plane with him, but did not tour the aircraft to meet them individually, as he usually does.

The pope said he did not feel up to “making the trip” around the back of the single-aisle aircraft.

“Luxembourg, a country with an area of 2,586 square km (998 square miles), counts about 271,000 Catholics among its 654,000-strong population,” the Vatican says.