Cardinal Aveline: French Church will have to “water the seeds” of Pope’s visit

Jean-Charles Putzolu – Paris

Catholics in France experienced four days of enthusiasm and intensity as Pope Leo XIV visited the country from September 25 to 28. Among them was Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, who accompanied the Pope at each of his stops during his fifth international Apostolic Journey.

Somewhat tired, but still smiling, the president of the French Bishops’ Conference and Archbishop of Marseille spoke to Vatican News about the Pope's visit. 

The Archbishop of Marseille revisited the highlights of the Pope’s visit: From the emotional encounter with young people at the Stade de France stadium in Paris, where they were encouraged to commit themselves to the future of France, Europe and the world, to the reaffirmation of unconditional support for the inviolable dignity of human life, to a deeply moving meeting lasting more than two hours in Lourdes with seven victims of clerical sexual abuse. 

Highlights 30/09/2026 Pope at Audience: Apostolic Journey to France was 'sign of rebirth' During his weekly General Audience, Pope Leo XIV recalls various highlights from his recent Apostolic Journey to France from September 25 to 28, and points to the theme of rebirth ...

Q: Your Eminence, now back in Paris and before returning to your Archdiocese of Marseille, what impressions have the four days with Pope Leo XIV in Paris, Lourdes and Metz left you with?

This meeting took place at a favorable moment between a man carrying a message and a responsibility for the whole Church, and the people of France—Catholic, Christian or other—who were present and expecting something.

The Pope’s words were awaited, but more than words, people experienced an encounter with a person. I believe that for the French people who came, and even for those who followed the visit on television, the Pope was addressing them personally, with great respect and at the same time with great authenticity.

At a press conference ahead of this Apostolic Journey, you said that France intrigued Pope Leo XIV. Is that still the case?

I am due to go to Rome next week and spend eight days there. I will have time to ask him that question. However, I think he was deeply touched by the fervor. On the plane, a journalist asked him a question about Germany, and his answer was: “Look at what happened in France.” People used to say things about France that could probably still be said about Germany today.

He was deeply touched both by the fervor of the young people, by their enthusiasm, and by the hope they carry and communicated. That is where an encounter takes place. The Pope communicates something, but the young people and the crowds who were present also communicate something to him.

I think that beyond the fact that France intrigues him, it touches him deeply. And it touches us as well, because it reminds us of our responsibility here in France.

Even though we expected it, the Pope was also deeply touched in Lourdes by his time with people experiencing difficulties, whatever those difficulties may be. I felt that it truly moved him.

Two questions about Lourdes. The first concerns the meeting with victims of sexual abuse. We had the impression that they emerged from that encounter feeling moved when they later spoke to the press.

Yes, but that is not surprising. All proportions being kept in mind, we can see—and I have experienced this myself—that when a bishop receives a person, when the conditions are right for this, and when one can simply listen at length, several times, keep in touch, and see how things develop, one can already sense that they are walking a path toward healing.

When such a meeting takes place with the Pope, it has even greater impact and importance. In the comments they made afterward [to the press], you can clearly see that, for this wound, the remedy of attentive and humble listening is the most important thing.

End-of-life care was another subject addressed in Lourdes, as well as on other occasions. Does Pope Leo’s brief statement—“what is legal is not necessarily moral”—not recall the firmness with which the Church defends respect for and the dignity of life?

Yes, but it was not only the words; there was also the tone, a very emphatic tone that meant that, at a certain point, it is necessary to cry out when the cries of others are not being heard.

We must raise our voices when what caregivers and other people are saying is not being heard. That is also what Christ asks of us. We spoke about it with the Pope, and I also spoke about it with the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic.

What is most painful to me is to think that after the adoption of the law [on assisted dying], the people who are most economically vulnerable will be those to whom it is easiest to suggest that, after all, they are a burden and that it would be better for them to leave.

We will have gone from a right to die to a duty to leave quickly so as not to be a burden. That is very serious. This is why we must raise our voices.

The journey began on Friday evening with the prayer vigil with 17-to-35-year-olds at the Stade de France stadium and ended with an appeal to young people. Pope Leo called on them to commit themselves to France, Europe and the world, at a time when, he said, Europe is at a turning point in its history.

In Metz, he even emphasized the importance of political engagement. We can see this clearly when we reread the history of the construction of the European institutions we know today: people filled with hope and faith were needed—the majority of the founding fathers of Europe were Christians—to draw from faith in the Resurrection the certainty that reconciliation was possible.

This was necessary to move from intuitions to institutions. We need men and women engaged in politics for this reason. The Pope’s appeal is therefore very important, especially because when we look at the world today, we can see that the political capacity and strength demonstrated by men and women at the end of the Second World War—after three wars that had devastated everything—could be useful in many other places in the world today.

But Europe needs to recover that strength. We need to reconsider the institutions in light of the intuitions that gave birth to them. We must also go further back than the creation of these institutions, as the Pope explained in his speech, and return to what lies at the origins of Europe: all those cultural syntheses, and that desire for unity despite all the wars and all the divisions. Today, Europe has a very great responsibility in the world.

You yourself, Your Eminence, along with your brother cardinals, bishops, priests, religious men and women, laypeople and the faithful—did everyone leave on Monday evening as missionaries?

Yes - I think France needed it. The Church in France also received a great deal during these few days. Many seeds were sown. It is up to us to think carefully about how best to water them. The bishop is often a gardener. He must go and water all the seeds, even those that have fallen in places where he did not expect them to fall. That is what we must do now.