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Under a magnificent chandelier in an Art Deco palace located in the heart of Luxembourg City, the great personalities of the small country gathered to welcome Pope Francis, almost 40 years after the visit of John Paul II.
In the front row, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg and his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, took their places. A few steps away, two former presidents of the European Commission and Prime Ministers of Luxembourg, Jacques Santer and Jean-Claude Juncker, waited. Authorities, representatives of civil society, diplomats and religious figures: 300 people came to listen to the 87-year-old pontiff in this distinguished setting.
The Pope arrived in a wheelchair on the polished parquet floor. He delivered his speech in a serious tone, warning Europe against the winds of war that are blowing again.
“It seems that the human heart does not always know how to hold on to its memory, and that it periodically strays to return to the tragic paths of war,” he told the inhabitants of this country swept by two world wars, and which was one of the pioneers in the construction of the European Union.
Among the personalities seated on the padded red chairs were three officials from the Holy See’s communication department with their eyes following the paper version of the speech. Line by line, they followed the progress of the papal words. Pen in hand, Paolo Ruffini, prefect of the dicastery, annotated his sheet here and there as his boss made brief changes.
Going off-script
Suddenly, these men’s heads looked up. Pope Francis had left the pages of his speech for a typical moment of improvisation, the kind he has been known for since his election in 2013.
“I saw the birth rate. Please: more children, more children! That’s the future. I’m not saying ‘more children and fewer puppies’ anymore — I say that in Italy — but more children!” the Pope said in Italian.
It took barely a few seconds for the translation to do its job and for smiles to appear on the surprised faces of the 300 guests. The faces of the three executives of the Holy See’s communications department also come to life. They probably were remembering that the Pope, 15 days earlier, made these same spontaneous diversions during his trip to South-East Asia and Oceania.
In Indonesia, he had in fact deviated from his text to praise “families of three, four, or five children” and lament those who “prefer to have a cat or a small dog, and not a child.” In Singapore and in East Timor, he had praised the vitality of large families. “Beware of crocodiles,” he said to the Catholics of East Timor, warning them against a Western culture that has little respect for life.
Luxembourg's immigration greater than birth rate
Although he didn’t compare Europe to a “grandmother” — as he had done 10 years earlier at the European Parliament in Strasbourg — Pope Francis conveyed the same message to Luxembourg society.
In this small country, the fertility rate has fallen below 2 children per woman since the 1970s, reaching 1.25 in 2023. Although the population continues to grow (672,000 inhabitants), it’s thanks to migration. Indeed, 26,964 people arrived in Luxembourg in 2023 when only 6,320 babies were born.
