Pope Leo XIV visits France, Germany calls for a Frontex rapid intervention force amid rising tensions in Ukraine

Pope Leo Aboard his “Papa Mobile” car, the Supreme Pontiff smilingly greeted the children and welcomed the crowds of worshipers, many of whom had arrived hours earlier to see him heading towards Place de la Concorde. A white altar was erected, topped with a cross several meters high.

The mass began shortly after three o'clock in the afternoon local time, with about 700,000 people - according to the Vatican - lining up over a length of more than two kilometers up to Grand Army Street, behind the Arc de Triomphe. They were able to follow the mass, which lasted an hour and a half, via giant screens.

Marie-Hélène, who came from the suburbs of Paris, said: “I may not see anything, but it does not matter. What is important is our presence in this large number and our participation in the Mass.”

Wide popularity

On Place de la Concorde; As the arrivals waited patiently and ate their food, 51-year-old Virginie Courteau, who was coming from Nanterre with her family, told Agence France-Presse, “The Pope is the star!” She added: “He addresses an audience that goes beyond the Catholic religion. He is the Pope we need in this era, the Pope who adds depth and contemplation.”

In the streets adjacent to the Champs-Elysées, with dozens of metro stations closed, dozens of buses carried worshipers from several areas throughout the morning, often equipped with folding chairs, in preparation for waiting for the Pope's arrival.

The Archdiocese of Paris reported that many politicians came to participate in the Mass. Among them are the presidential candidates: Edouard Philippe, Gabriel Attal, and Marine Le Pen, who was accompanied by the head of her National Rally party, Jordan Bardella, in addition to Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, former President Nicolas Sarkozy, and the Speakers of the Houses of Parliament, Yael Brown-Bivet, and Gérard Larchet.

President Emmanuel Macron, who received Pope Leo on Friday upon his arrival at the airport and then at the Elysee Palace, was absent, and was represented by his wife, Brigitte.

This is the first papal visit since Benedict It witnesses the mobilization of 17,000 volunteers, 15,000 police and gendarmerie members, and 2,500 accredited journalists, and it has been allocated a huge budget of 27 million euros.

“Dignity and peace”

Leo

During his meeting with a number of Muslim and Christian expatriates and immigrants of different nationalities, the Pope stressed the importance of “meeting and living together in dignity and peace.” He said, “The history of the Church and humanity... was not written by those who give the impression of victory by imposing themselves and occupying space; Rather, they are those who make room for others, create peace mechanisms, inspire confidence, and encourage life.” He called for "acknowledging the essential role of women in building a civilization based on love."

According to its officials, this visit to the House sends a “message” months before presidential elections in France, in which the issue of immigration is expected to return to the forefront. Since his election in May 2025, the Pope has consistently called for preserving the dignity of migrants and refugees. The American Pope did not hesitate to criticize President Donald Trump's policy in this regard.

The Pope then visited the Catholic Institute in Paris; Where he met new and future baptized people, which testifies to the vitality of the church among a segment of young people. The Pope said during the meeting at the institute’s historic headquarters: “It may seem surprising that we witness this phenomenon in the context of a society like French society (...) marked by a highly secular culture.” On Friday, he touched on secularism in his speech at the Elysee Palace, considering that “proper secularism does not mean excluding religion from the public space.”

The Pope's visit has received remarkable popular attention since its first day. According to the Vatican, 300,000 people lined up on Friday to welcome him as he crossed in the papal car in central Paris, before 80,000 young people gave him a star-studded welcome on Friday evening, at the Stade de France.

Germany called for the formation of a rapid intervenir force affiliated with the European Border Guard Agency (Frontex), to assist countries in the event of a sudden “pressure” of migration at the external borders of the Union, similar to what happened in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta this summer.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt stated, during a press conference on Saturday in Munich, that Europe must establish “a new support mechanism for countries facing such pressure at their external borders.”

The conservative minister added before a meeting with 16 of his counterparts in the European Union and European Commissioner Magnus Brenner to discuss migration files, saying: “In other words, a fast intervenir force affiliated with the Frontex agency, which will be able to provide the necessary support to countries located on the external borders of the European Union within 24 hours.”

For his part, Brenner indicated that the European Commission will “in the near future” provide an “enhanced” mandate to Frontex, to be able to “move quickly and with greater flexibility, before events turn into real crises.”

Dobrindt stressed that the German government, led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, which has made tightening immigration policy a priority to curb the rise of the extreme right, “is convinced that it can make greater use of the Frontex agency in the procedures for returning migrants,” especially through the third countries they pass through, as well as within the framework of the “Dublin Agreement” within the European Union, which determines the country responsible for deciding on the asylum request.

Commissioner Brenner considered that Frontex should play a “more important and intense role in repatriation operations.”

Germany is currently working, in cooperation with Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece, to establish migrant return centers (deportation centres) in a country outside the European Union, with the aim of returning asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected.

Dobrindt adhered to the goal announced by these five countries, which is to submit preliminary agreements with countries outside the bloc “by the end of the year.”

For its part, the International Rescue Committee, on Thursday, condemned the repatriation centres, describing it as a “cruel, costly approach that strips people of their dignity and basic rights.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday that its forces bombed a cargo ship loaded with military supplies near the Ukrainian port of Odessa on the Black Sea.

The ministry added that a logistics center was also bombed in Odessa.

Reuters was unable to independently verify what was reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Mutual Russian and Ukrainian strikes resulted in the deaths of at least 16 people in the two countries, according to what local authorities reported on Saturday, with Moscow and Kiev intensifying their strikes in recent months.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the killing of two people in the city of Zaporizhya in the south of the country.

The authorities in Sumy reported that two other people were killed in the city located in the northeast on the border with Russia, in an air strike that also resulted in six wounded, including a child.

Regional official Oleksandr Ganja said that a Russian air strike in the Dnepropetrovsk region (central east) resulted in the killing of a 17-year-old girl and a 59-year-old woman, and the wounding of two other people, including a six-year-old child.

In Kiev, a drone strike on a residential building left five people injured, the day after a bombing targeted the capital, killing seven people.

In Russia's Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, one person was killed in a Ukrainian drone air strike that targeted a commercial facility, while three others were killed in separate Ukrainian air strikes on the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporozhye region, according to Yevgeny Palitsky, a Moscow-appointed local official, on Saturday.

In the Moscow-controlled Kherson region (south), a Ukrainian drone strike on Friday evening killed two young women and destroyed a restaurant, according to Russian regional official Vladimir Saldo.

He also pointed out that a man was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on a vehicle on Friday evening.

In addition, debris from a Ukrainian drone killed three people and injured two others in the Krasnodar region in southwestern Russia, according to local authorities, who noted that the attack caused a fire in a commercial facility, which was later contained.

Zelensky said that Kiev targeted an oil refinery in the Krasnodar region and a site “for supplying the occupation forces” in the neighboring Rostov region.

Anastasia Grigorovich, who lives in a building in Kiev that was targeted by Saturday's raids, said that she woke up at dawn "because a window fell on us."

She had fled her hometown of Horlivka, which is under Russian occupation in the Donetsk region (east), and was thinking about leaving Ukraine permanently.

Sergei Solovyov said it was "obvious" that Russian President Vladimir Putin "wants to break the morale of the people" and force Ukrainians "to make concessions to Russia."

Putin hinted on Friday that he would not resume peace negotiations at the present time after Ukrainian drone attacks targeted the country on September 20, which was the last day of the legislative elections.