Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 2, 2023 / 07:36 am
Arriving in Lisbon for World Youth Day, Pope Francis on Wednesday called on Portugal’s leaders to promote peace, families, and environmental stewardship, policies he said would help light “lamps of hope” across Europe.
In his first hours in Portugal’s coastal capital, the Holy Father met with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Assembly President Augusto Ernesto dos Santos Silva, and other civil authorities at the Belém Cultural Center in Lisbon.
In his address to the dignitaries, Francis described Lisbon as “a city of encounter which embraces many peoples and cultures,” one that is “grounded in a desire to be open to the world and to explore it.”
“Lisbon, as an ocean city … reminds us of the importance of the whole, to think of borders as places of contact, not as boundaries that separate,” Francis said, claiming the current historical moment calls for “courageous courses of peace.”