Pallade Veneta - Pope Francis begins trip to 'the heart of Europe'

Recovering from a mild flu after a gruelling Asia-Pacific trip, the 87-year-old pontiff took off from Rome aboard the papal plane and was due to land at Luxembourg Airport at around 10:00 am (0800 GMT).

He will be welcomed by Grand Duke Henri, his wife Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa, Prime Minister Luc Frieden and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, a close friend of Francis's.

Together, Luxembourg and Belgium host multiple major European institutions, making them a part of the world that others look to, said Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See press office.

Bringing his message "to the heart of Europe" against a backdrop of soaring international tensions, Francis will evoke the role the continent "wants to play in the world in the near future" for peace and solidarity, Bruni told a press conference.

The head of the Catholic Church will address Luxembourg authorities on Thursday morning and meet a few hundred faithful at Notre-Dame Cathedral in the afternoon, during an eight-hour stay in the wealthy financial services hub.

Francis will also greet members of the public in the streets of the capital during a popemobile tour under tight security.

- 'Unexpected' -

It will be the first papal visit to the country in almost 40 years.

Jean Ehret, a priest and director of the Luxembourg School Of Religion & Society, described the occasion as "historic" and "unexpected", quipping that the small Grand Duchy does not usually top a pontiff's travel list.

In 1985, John Paul II celebrated what remains the largest mass in Luxembourg's history, attended by around 60,000 worshippers.

The small nation's population has since almost doubled to 654,000, thanks in particular to the attractiveness of its financial centre.

Sandwiched between Belgium, Germany and France, landlocked Luxembourg is home to the European Investment Bank and the Court of Justice of the European Union among other European institutions, and has one of the world's highest rates of gross domestic income per capita.

About 41 percent of Luxembourgers are Catholic, according to the Vatican.

"Pope Francis is visiting a very different society to the one seen by John-Paul II," political analyst Philippe Poirier told AFP. "In 1985, 79 percent of Luxembourgers said they had a religion, of which 90 percent were Catholic."

"Since 2023, a majority of Luxembourg's population has not been religious," he said.

- 'New impetus' -

The Luxembourg stop begins a tour that will take Francis to Belgium on Thursday evening for a three-day stay partly devoted to meeting victims of clerical sex abuse, and culminating with an open-air mass on Sunday.

On Wednesday, during his weekly general audience, Francis said he hoped his visit to the two countries could be "the opportunity for a new impetus of faith" there.

Since his election in 2013, Francis has made a point of preferring to travel to what he calls the "peripheries" of the Church -- previously overlooked countries in Asia, Africa or the southern hemisphere -- rather than big, wealthy, historically Catholic European nations.

The Argentine pope, who has relied on a wheelchair since 2022 because of knee pain and sciatica, has suffered increasing health problems in recent years.

Nevertheless, he completed this month his longest trip in duration and distance since he became head of the world's nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics, visiting four countries over 12 days in Southeast Asia and Oceania.

While he occasionally struggled to keep his eyes open when listening to late-night liturgical readings, the pontiff appeared cheerful and energised by the trip.

But on Monday Francis cancelled his daily audiences because of a "mild flu", with the Vatican saying he needed rest.

C.Grillo--PV