Papal trip to Luxembourg, Belgium puts focus on faith, education
August 8, 2024 at 12:00 a.m.
VATICAN CITY CNS - Pope Francis’ visit to Luxembourg and Belgium Sept. 26-29 will come just 13 days after wrapping up the longest trip of his pontificate.
After visiting Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore Sept. 3-13, the Pope will travel to the tiny European nation of Luxembourg Sept. 26 and neighboring Belgium Sept. 26-29, traveling to Brussels, Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve. He will stick to the traditional essentials: greeting top-level government officials, meeting with local Catholics, celebrating an open-air Mass and meeting privately with his fellow Jesuits.
The main focus of the trip to Belgium is to mark the founding of the oldest Catholic university in the world, the Catholic University of Leuven, which celebrates its 600th anniversary during the 2024-2025 academic year.
About half the size of Delaware, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a constitutional monarchy and nearly three-quarters of its population of 670,000 are Christian. Of those who are Christian, 63.8% are Catholic. Pope Francis created the country’s first cardinal when he elevated its archbishop to the College of Cardinals in 2019. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, 65, is a Jesuit, a member of the Pope’s advisory Council of Cardinals and the relator general of the Synod of Bishops on synodality.
The last time a pope visited Luxembourg was St. John Paul II in 1985 and the last time for Belgium was in 1995 when St. John Paul II went to Brussels for the beatification of St. Damien De Veuster.
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VATICAN CITY CNS - Pope Francis’ visit to Luxembourg and Belgium Sept. 26-29 will come just 13 days after wrapping up the longest trip of his pontificate.
After visiting Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore Sept. 3-13, the Pope will travel to the tiny European nation of Luxembourg Sept. 26 and neighboring Belgium Sept. 26-29, traveling to Brussels, Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve. He will stick to the traditional essentials: greeting top-level government officials, meeting with local Catholics, celebrating an open-air Mass and meeting privately with his fellow Jesuits.
The main focus of the trip to Belgium is to mark the founding of the oldest Catholic university in the world, the Catholic University of Leuven, which celebrates its 600th anniversary during the 2024-2025 academic year.
About half the size of Delaware, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a constitutional monarchy and nearly three-quarters of its population of 670,000 are Christian. Of those who are Christian, 63.8% are Catholic. Pope Francis created the country’s first cardinal when he elevated its archbishop to the College of Cardinals in 2019. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, 65, is a Jesuit, a member of the Pope’s advisory Council of Cardinals and the relator general of the Synod of Bishops on synodality.
The last time a pope visited Luxembourg was St. John Paul II in 1985 and the last time for Belgium was in 1995 when St. John Paul II went to Brussels for the beatification of St. Damien De Veuster.