Riccardo Cristiano

Although the major European leaders did not accept the French President’s invitation to attend the Pope’s speech on Europe in Metz, I would say that the trip was addressed to the whole of Europe, or to Europeans. On his return to the Vatican, Leo XIV spoke of the rise of far-right groups in Germany and, more broadly, of the extreme forms that growing discontent is taking in Europe and around the world. He noted, in particular, the emergence of expressions combining such political positions with a certain form of religiosity which, in the judgment not only of himself but also of the leaders of the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Germany, “is not an authentic expression of Christianity.” Once again, he said, we must return to “the values of the Gospel.” Pope Leo did not need to travel to France to speak out against the extreme forms that growing European discontent is taking; he had already done so. But the trip did take place, and it was significant, first and foremost, for this reason: “the values of the Gospel.”

Pope Leo gave the Lebanese what belongs to the Lebanese: recognition of their great resilience. But if we try to read his words on the serious global problem he identified for everyone through Lebanese eyes—let's say Lebanese eyes only, since he addressed these words to the whole world—we would understand that this resilience should be investigated: “A kind of pessimism and sense of powerlessness seem to have taken hold, where people are no longer able to ask themselves what they can do to change the course of history. Major decisions appear to be taken by a select few, often to the detriment of the common good, as if this were an inevitable destiny”.