Leo XIV delivered a lengthy tribute on Monday to efforts to unify and democratize Europe since World War II, in what experts saw as a sweeping riposte to the Trump administration’s characterization of a continent facing “civilizational erasure.”
In a speech in Metz, in northeastern France, Leo offered an alternative vision of a Europe that would “continue to flourish and to inspire the whole world.”
Describing an “increasingly uncivilized” world, Leo said that “Europe can help to break this cycle through the respect for others that it has learned to cultivate.” He also praised and quoted from the founding principles of the European Union, an institution frequently assailed by Mr. Trump.
On the last day of a four-day trip to France, the pope made a symbolic choice to speak at the Robert Schuman Center, a convention hall named after a Christian French statesman who led efforts to improve postwar cooperation between European nations.
Leo did not name any particular leader or political party, but analysts read some of his more pointed remarks as critiques of the Trump administration, which — by assailing NATO, the European Union and European allies like Denmark — has scrambled the order that has governed European alliances since World War II.
Leo said that Europe, with its Christian heritage and history of cooperation, could push back against those who dismiss “the value of keeping one’s word” and those who “boast of lies and deceit.”
The pope’s comments represented “as much as a direct response to Trump that you can get today,” said Massimo Faggioli, a Catholic theologian at Villanova University, Pope Leo’s alma mater.
For nearly two years, the Trump administration has berated Europe while two of the administration’s most prominent Catholics, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have urged European countries to accept far-right parties and erect stricter border controls.
In a separate speech on Monday in Metz, the pope told religious leaders that “to invoke God’s name in order to justify violence or oppression is to profane that name.” The phrasing recalled remarks he made in March, when he said that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” Many followers and analysts took those comments to be directed at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who invoked Jesus Christ in asking Americans to pray for victory in the war with Iran.
The pope also appeared to address the anti-immigration policies that are increasingly promoted by right-wing parties in Europe, as well as several centrist governments. Noting the arrival of “so many men and women fleeing war and persecution,” Leo called on Europeans “to integrate them as if they were part of one’s own family.”
He added: “Over the past eighty years, Europe has amply demonstrated that it is possible to articulate divergent opinions, claims and interests through encounter rather than conflict.”
The pope’s speeches were the latest chapter in his efforts to balance criticism of Mr. Trump’s policies with avoiding an all-out dispute with the president. Since becoming pope in May 2025, Leo has clashed repeatedly with the Trump administration, while also trying to avoid being cast as the “anti-Trump.”
Flying to France on Friday, Leo pursed his lips and said nothing after a reporter asked him if he planned to speak with Mr. Trump about Iran. And during a visit to four countries in Africa in April, Leo told reporters that some of his remarks had been misinterpreted as criticism of the president.
“He always frames his messages universally,” said Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a historian at the University of Notre Dame. He is not seeking “to correct or condemn,” she added, noting that Leo’s core themes of “peace, bridge building, human dignity” could be viewed as “all transcending any particular context.”
Still, the pope has used his time in France in ways that have quietly underscored his many divergences from Mr. Trump.
On Friday, at the headquarters of UNESCO — the United Nations cultural agency that the United States has twice withdrawn from under Mr. Trump’s leadership — Leo spoke about the “urgent need” to increase trust in multilateral organizations. He also visited a center that helps migrants integrate into French society.
“He knows what the valence and the resonance of these kinds of gestures and acts is,” said Miles Pattenden, a historian who studies the Catholic Church at Oxford University.
“If he really didn’t want the ambiguity of being seen to implicitly criticize particular leaders,” Mr. Pattenden added, the pope “could have avoided” visiting particular sites or making statements he knew might be interpreted as political commentary.
“His credibility is because he’s above the fray,” Mr. Pattenden said. “If he joins the fray by directly criticizing anyone, he kind of undermines that.”
But, Mr. Pattenden added, “it doesn’t stop people kind of hoping that he will.”
Most of Leo’s trip to France has focused on mobilizing a faithful Catholic minority in a secular country, and on welcoming new converts, particularly among the youth. About 800,000 people thronged the streets of central Paris when the pope celebrated Mass there on Saturday. He also visited the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral and prayed with young people at a stadium outside Paris.
President Emmanuel Macron of France rearranged his schedule on Monday to attend a Mass that Leo planned to celebrate in Metz and to be on hand for the pope’s evening departure. Mr. Macron had not attended the mass in Paris, sending his wife Brigitte and France’s prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, to represent him. That was seen by some as a symbol of the strict separation of church and state in France.
But the mass in Paris drew an unexpectedly large gathering, with crowds filling the Champs-Élysées, the capital’s grandest boulevard — from the Place de la Concorde all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. It also drew many political leaders, with the exception of those from the left and far left.
Experts said that Mr. Macron, by suddenly changing his schedule, appeared eager to tap into the excitement generated by Leo’s visit.
In a speech in Metz on Monday, Mr. Macron praised the pope for defending the European project at a time when its founding ideals were under persistent threat.
“War has returned to our continent and our Europe is being shaken by the resurgence of empires,” Mr. Macron said, adding that Europe faced an “epidemic of disinformation and interference that seeks to weaken our democracy and divide us.”
For all the good feelings during his visit, Leo did not hesitate to offer critiques or to touch on difficult subjects.
In Lourdes, one of the world’s most visited sites of Catholic pilgrimage, the pope met with victims of clerical sexual abuse.
At a residence for sick and disabled pilgrims, he made a clear criticism of France’s recent move to legalize medically assisted dying. “We must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion,” he said. “It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral.”
Some of his followers said what they most appreciated about Leo was his calm demeanor and ability to promote Catholic teaching without trying to polarize or descend into fights.
“I think he’s really giving us a strong message on staying united,” said Alan Jacob, a doctoral student in neuroscience who had driven 17 hours with two friends from the Netherlands to attend the pope’s mass in Lourdes. “People can have differences of opinion.”
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