Pope Leo heads to swanky Monaco with pro-poor message

Pope Leo greets faithful as he leaves at the end of the weekly general audience in St.

Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, on Wednesday.

Photo: AP Pope Leo heads on Saturday to the Mediterranean principality of Monaco, a millionaires’ playground on the French Riviera that is the pontiff’s surprise pick for the first western European trip of his papacy.

The US-born pope, a former missionary critical of the wealthy elite, will helicopter in for a day in the world’s second-smallest state, best known for its casinos, luxury yachts and Michelin-starred dining.

In Monte Carlo, billboards featuring mild-mannered, white-cassocked Leo stand in stark contrast to the gleaming sports cars and throngs of tourists, many unaware of the papal visit.

Isabel Fissore, the 62-year-old owner of a small jewellery shop, said she was excited about Leo’s whirlwind trip from the Vatican – itself the world’s smallest state. “It’s historic, the two smallest states in the world coming together to spread the message of peace, light and love throughout the world,” she said. “We may be a small state, but we are big at heart.” Signs announcing the visit of Pope Leo are displayed in the streets of Monaco on Friday.

Monaco is one of the few places in Europe where Catholicism remains the state religion.

Photo: EPA Monaco is one of the few places in Europe where Catholicism remains the state religion, and it has long-standing diplomatic ties with the Holy See.

Though only around 8 per cent of citizens identify as practising Catholics, church pews are one of the few places where billionaires, cleaning ladies and construction workers mingle.

The principality is a densely populated melting pot: nearly 40,000 people live in the state’s two square kilometres (500 acres), including around 8,000 Monegasques, more than 8,000 Italians and nearly 10,000 French nationals.

With around 140 nationalities in all, it is a place where Leo will encounter “other cultures, other countries, other origins, other languages”, according to Archbishop of Monaco Dominique-Marie David. “The Holy Father’s travels … always have repercussions beyond our borders, so he also knows that Monaco can be, in a manner of speaking, a small platform to the world,” he told a press conference on Friday.

Flags of Vatican City and the Principality of Monaco hang from the windows of a building ahead of Pope Leo’s in Monaco on Friday.

Photo: EPA Leo is expected to talk about the environment – a cause dear to Prince Albert II – as

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