Pope travels to the heart of Europe to appeal for peace and to boost his dwindling flock

LUXEMBOURG (AP) — Pope Francis called for Europe to be a beacon of peace in war and a welcome home for migrants and refugees as he arrived in the heart of the continent on Thursday to encourage the dwindling Catholic flock in a onetime bastion of Christianity.

Francis received a warm welcome as he landed in blustery weather that turned to rain in Luxembourg, the European Union’s second-smallest country and its richest per capita. The visit came after the 87-year-old pope canceled his audiences in recent days because of a slight flu.

Francis seemed in good form, though he skipped his traditional walk down the plane aisle to greet journalists during the trip from Rome. His spokesman said it was because of the short flight time and single aisle of the ITA aircraft, not for any health problems.

Francis was in Luxembourg for just a few hours before flying onto Belgium, where he is to stay through the weekend. There too immigration and peace — with a war raging on European soil — are expected to be on the agenda. Francis is also expected to meet with survivors of clergy sexual abuse, given the Belgian church's wretched record.

The visit seemed designed to let Francis get a sense of Luxembourg from his friend and tour guide, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the only cardinal from this once vibrant Catholic stronghold. A Jesuit like Francis, Hollerich has become one of Francis' go-to advisers and brought Francis to a soccer-themed coffee shop near his home during Thursday's afternoon siesta.

In his opening remarks to Luxembourg government authorities and the diplomatic corps, Francis recalled the country's position as a geographic crossroads in Europe, invaded during both World Wars and keenly aware of the “quarrels and wars that have been caused by exaggerated forms of nationalism and pernicious ideologies.”

“Luxembourg can show everyone the advantages of peace as opposed to the horrors of war,” he said.

Francis also praised the country for its tradition of opening its doors to foreigners and said it was a model for Europe. But he urged it to use its wealth to help poorer nations so their people aren’t forced to flee to seek better economic opportunities in Europe.

“This is one way to ensure a decrease in the number of those forced to emigrate, often in inhumane and dangerous conditions,” he said. “Let us not forget that having wealth includes responsibility.”

Barely half of Luxembourg’s 660,000 inhabitants are natives: More than a third come from other EU nations like Portugal, and about 10% from outside the EU.

Many non-natives are well-paid EU bureaucrats and second-generation Portuguese. The country does have an reasonably generous record in taking in migrants who cross the Mediterranean Sea or come via the Balkans and who constitute a sizable number of the migrants arriving on the continent.

By the end of March, Luxembourg also counted a total of 4,255 non-EU citizens who had fled the war against Ukraine and were under temporary protection.

“There are a lot of people here too, border residents who have come and foreigners who live in Luxembourg to see the pope. It is an exceptional thing,” said Denise Berans as she waited for the pope to pass by.

Francis praised this welcome of those in need during an encounter with the country's Catholic community in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The late-Gothic church was built in the early 1600s by Francis’ own Jesuit order and stands as a monument to Christianity’s long and central place in European history.

“I encourage you to be faithful to this legacy, and to continue to make your country a friendly home for those who knock at your door seeking help and hospitality,” Francis said, repeating his appeal for everyone — “todos, todos, todos” — to feel welcomed in the church.

A landlocked country surrounded by Belgium, France and Germany, Luxembourg traces its Christian heritage to the 4th century and it was once a staunchly Catholic country. But only 41% are Catholic now, according to Vatican statistics.

The trip is a much-truncated version of the 10-day tour St. John Paul II made through Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands in 1985, during which the Polish pope delivered 59 speeches or homilies and was greeted by hundreds of thousands of adoring faithful.

Even then, the head of the Catholic Church faced indifference and even hostility to core Vatican teachings on contraception and sexual morals, opposition that has only increased over time. Those secular trends and the crisis over clergy abuse have helped lead to the decline of the church in the region, with monthly Mass attendance in the single digits and plummeting ordinations of new priests.

Nevertheless, the narrow streets surrounding the Dukal Palace were packed with well-wishers who braved the morning rain to catch a glimpse of the pope in his popemobile. One protester jumped the barricade to try to get close to him and was quickly stopped by security.

In an article this week in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Hollerich said migration and the influx of people of other faiths or no faith had accounted for the changes and challenges confronting the church in Luxembourg today.

“We can no longer look back in the hope of restoring that church that existed a half-century ago. We have to try to find traces of God in the current secularization,” he wrote.

Hollerich, whom Francis made a cardinal in 2019, has taken on a leading role in the pope’s multi-year church reform effort as the “general rapporteur” of his big synod, or meeting, on the future of the Catholic Church.

In that capacity, Hollerich has helped oversee local, national and continental-wide consultations of rank-and-file Catholics and synthesized their views into working papers for bishops and other delegates to discuss at their Vatican meetings, the second session of which opens next week.

Last year, in another sign of his esteem for the progressive cardinal, Francis appointed Hollerich to serve in his kitchen cabinet, known as the Council of Cardinals. The group of nine prelates from around the globe meets several times a year at the Vatican to help Francis govern.

Casert reported from Brussels. AP researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Pope Francis flanked by Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa signs the guest book during his visit at the Grand Ducal Palace, in Luxembourg, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis is welcomed by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, left, and Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri, right, at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Pope Francis is welcomed by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, left, and Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri, right, at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Pope Francis is welcomed by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, left, and Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri, right, at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Pope Francis is welcomed by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, left, and Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri, right, at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Pope Francis is welcomed by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, left, and Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri, right, at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Pope Francis flanked by Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa signs the guest book during his visit at the Grand Ducal Palace, in Luxembourg, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis, leaft, speaks aboard his flight bound for Luxembourg, where he will start a four-day apostolic journey in Luxembourg and Belgium, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis is aboard his flight bound for Luxembourg, where he will start a four-day apostolic journey in Luxembourg and Belgium, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis, center, speaks to the media aboard his flight bound for Luxembourg, where he will start a four-day apostolic journey in Luxembourg and Belgium, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Pool Photo via AP)

Pope Francis, center, speaks to the media aboard his flight bound for Luxembourg, where he will start a four-day apostolic journey in Luxembourg and Belgium, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Pool Photo via AP)

The ITA Airways ITY4000 papal plane with Pope Francis and bound to Luxembourg, where the pope will start his four-day visit to Luxembourg and Belgium, takes off from the Fiumicino International airport Leonardo da Vinci, some 30 kilometers south-west of Rome, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis arrives at Fiumicino International airport Leonardo da Vinci, some 30 kilometers south-west of Rome, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024 to board the papal flight to Luxembourg for a four-day visit to Luxembourg and Belgium. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis arrives at Fiumicino International airport Leonardo da Vinci, some 30 kilometers south-west of Rome, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024 to board the papal flight to Luxembourg for a four-day visit to Luxembourg and Belgium. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis arrives as he holds his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis goes on pope-mobile as he leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

A tramway crosses the iconic Adolphe Bridge where flags of the Vatican and Luxembourg are seen waving in the surrounding gardens on the day before Pope Francis' trip to Luxembourg and Belgium, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Flags of Vatican City and Luxembourg wave outside the Luxembourg City Hall a day before for the trip of Pope Francis to Luxembourg and Belgium, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

A woman walks on a main boulevard in Luxembourg a day before the trip of Pope Francis to Luxembourg and Belgium, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Nineteen Syrian refugees and a Lebanese national were killed in northeast Lebanon after an Israeli airstrike destroyed a building housing workers, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Thursday.

Also Thursday, the health ministry said two people were killed and 15 were wounded after an Israeli airstrike hit an apartment building in a southern suburb of Beirut. The Israel Defense Force said the strike killed a Hezbollah drone commander, Mohammed Hussein Surour.

The strikes came after Israel's military chief said Wednesday that the country was preparing for a possible ground operation in Lebanon as Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel is striking Hezbollah “with full force” and won’t stop until its goals are achieved.

Late Wednesday, the United States, France and other allies jointly called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations as fears grow that the violent escalation in recent days — following 11 months of cross-border exchange of fire — could grow into an all-out war.

The United Nations says over 90,000 people have been displaced by five days of Israeli strikes on Lebanon, bringing the total to 200,000 people who have been displaced in Lebanon since Hezbollah began firing rockets into northern Israel in support of Hamas after it stormed into Israel, sparking the Israel-Hamas war.

Here’s the latest:

TEL AVIV — Some 45 rockets were fired from Lebanon on the northern city of Safed and surrounding communities, according to the Israeli army, shortly after Israel killed a Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut.

Israeli police said heavy damage was caused by falling fragments, but there were no reports of injuries. It was the second heavy barrage on the area Thursday.

A total of 150 projectiles were fired so far Thursday from Lebanon on northern Israel, according to the army, most of which were intercepted or fell in open areas.

LONDON — Britain's defense secretary has echoed the call for a pause in Israel's conflict with Hezbollah.

“I urge President Netanyahu and the Lebanese Hezbollah leaders to pay heed to the combined voices at the United Nations to do just that," John Healey said after a meeting with his U.S. and Australian counterparts in London.

Healey said his country has sent 700 troops to Cyprus to assist in a potential emergency evacuation of civilians in Lebanon should a full war break out.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pressed both Israel and Lebanon to choose the path of cease-fire and urged each side to accept a temporary pause to avoid further escalation.

“Israel and Lebanon can choose a different path,” he said. “Despite a sharp escalation in recent days, a diplomatic solution is still viable ... All parties should seize this opportunity."

And he issued a warning to Iran and other U.S. adversaries, saying: “No one should try to exploit this crisis or expand this conflict.”

NEW YORK — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is striking Hezbollah “with full force” and won’t stop until its goals are achieved.

Netanyahu spoke as he landed in New York to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting and as U.S. and European officials were pressing for a 21-day halt in fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to give time for negotiations.

Netanyahu said Israel’s “policy is clear. We are continuing to strike Hezbollah with full force. And we will not stop until we reach all our goals, chief among them the return of the residents of the north securely to their homes.”

He added that he approved the “targeted killing operation” of the head of Hezbollah’s drone unit in south Beirut Thursday.

Israel has dramatically escalated strikes in Lebanon this week, saying it is targeting Hezbollah. Israeli leaders have said they are determined to stop more than 11-months of cross-border fire by the militant group into Israel, which has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of Israelis from communities in the north.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israel Defense Force says an airstrike on Beirut has killed a Hezbollah drone commander.

Israel's military said Thursday that its fighter jets attacked Beirut on Thursday and killed Mohammed Hussein Surour, who it described as a “commander of Hezbollah’s aerial unit."

It said Surour “promoted, directed and commanded many aerial terrorist attacks, including drone attacks, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles aimed at Israel.”

Hezbollah has not commented on the claim.

BEIRUT — Lebanon's Health Ministry says two people were killed and 15 were wounded after an airstrike hit an apartment building in a southern suburb of Beirut.

The health ministry said those wounded included a woman who was in critical condition.

Al-Manar TV, the TV station of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, reported earlier Thursday that an Israeli airstrike caused an explosion on an apartment building in south Beirut, but did not give further details.

The Israeli military said it carried out a “targeted strike” south of Beirut. It said more details will be released later.

The strike came two days after a similar attack killed a senior Hezbollah military commander with the group’s missile unit.

NEW YORK — Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the world is united in calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah and will be seeking approval from Israeli officials after the release of a proposal for a temporary 21-day halt in fighting.

“It is now the G7 countries, the European Union, the leading Arab countries, everyone speaking with one clear voice about the need to get that cease-fire in the north,” Blinken said in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday before he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top strategy advisor, Ron Dermer, in New York.

Netanyahu himself is en route to New York where he will speak on Friday at the UN General Assembly. His office said the cease-fire call is only a proposal and that Israel would continue to defend its land and people from attacks by Hezbollah from Lebanese territory.

“I can’t speak for him,” Blinken said of Netanyahu. “I can just say that the world is speaking clearly for virtually all of the key countries in Europe and in the region on the need for the ceasefire."

“What we’re saying, what the world is saying, is very clear, and we’ll be looking to work with the Israelis and all the parties throughout the rest of the day,” he added.

BEIRUT — Syrian pro-government media outlets say Israel’s air force has carried out airstrikes along the Lebanon-Syria border, wounding five people and destroying a bridge that links the countries.

Syria’s Sham FM radio station and Dama Post reported that the airstrike wounded five people and destroyed the bridge near the Matraba border crossing on the Lebanese side in the northeastern Hermel region.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported several Israeli airstrikes in Hermel.

The Israeli military said it attacked infrastructure used to transfer weapons from Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

TEL AVIV, Israel — Families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza for nearly a year are urging Israel to ensure than any possible cease-fire deal with Hezbollah includes provisions for the war in Gaza.

Gil Dickmann, whose cousin, Carmel Gat, was kidnapped and was one of six Israelis killed in Hamas tunnels in August, said the families of the hostages are feeling forgotten as attention shifts to the northern front.

“We know that these things are connected to each other, the northern part and the southern part, they’re all part of the same large situation in which we are at from October 7th on. And we’re very worried that if we don’t make the right decisions now, we will miss this amazing opportunity to get the hostages out,” Dickmann said on Thursday.

He slammed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for missing multiple opportunities to free his cousin over the past 11 months and begged him to agree to a cease-fire with both Hezbollah and Hamas that would include provisions for the hostages.

Dickmann’s sister-in-law, Yarden Roman-Gat, was released in the week-long cease-fire deal last November, along with nearly 100 other hostages.

Hamas-led militants abducted some 250 people during their Oct. 7 attack in Israel in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed. More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza since then.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the cease-fire called on by the United States, France and other allies is only a proposal, and that Netanyahu, who is on a flight en route to the United States for the United Nations General Assembly, has not responded to it.

The U.S. and its allies jointly called Wednesday for an immediate 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations in the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon in recent days.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz, who is the acting prime minister during Netanyahu’s trip abroad, said there will be no cease-fire in the north, vowing to continue the fighting in the north “with full force until victory” and returning the tens of thousands of Israeli citizens evacuated from their homes.

Netanyahu's office added that the Israeli military was continuing to strike Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

BEIRUT — An Israeli airstrike on a village in northeast Lebanon destroyed a building housing Syrian workers, killing 23 of them and wounding another eight people.

State-run National News Agency quoted the village’s mayor Ali Kassas as saying that the bodies of 23 Syrian citizens were pulled out from under the rubble, adding that four other Syrians and four Lebanese were wounded in the same airstrike late Wednesday in the village of Younine, just north of the ancient city of Baalbek in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley that borders Syria.

The Lebanese Red Cross said it evacuated the bodies of nine people following the airstrike. Others were taken by Hezbollah’s paramedic arm as well as the Lebanese Civil Defense, NNA said.

A country of about 6 million people, Lebanon hosts nearly 780,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands who are unregistered — the world’s highest refugee population per capita.

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military says it struck 75 sites overnight across southern and eastern Lebanon, part of a punishing air campaign in response to Hezbollah rocket fire.

The military said Thursday it was targeting Hezbollah military infrastructure, including weapons storage facilities and rocket launchers. Around half a dozen Israelis have been wounded in the latest escalation.

Israel strikes have killed more than 630 people in Lebanon since Monday, about a quarter of them women and children. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of projectiles towards Israel over the past week, including a surface-to-surface missile toward Tel Aviv that was intercepted Wednesday.

The Israeli military said around 45 projectiles were fired from Lebanon on Thursday, all of them either intercepted or falling in open areas. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza, hoping to pin down Israeli forces. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are close allies of Iran.

The fighting has driven tens of thousands of people from their homes on both sides of the border. Israel has vowed to do whatever is necessary to allow its citizens to return, and has moved thousands of troops to the northern border in preparation for what could be a ground campaign into southern Lebanon.

The United States, France and other allies jointly called for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire in the conflict to “provide space for diplomacy” as fears grow that the violence could become an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah, which would further destabilize a region already shaken by the war in Gaza.

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Britain says it’s sending $6.7 million worth of humanitarian assistance, including medical supplies, hygiene kits and fuel to Lebanon to support the civilian population there as fighting forces thousands to flee their homes.

The United Kingdom said in a statement that the United Nations agency for children, UNICEF, will distribute the supplies, which will also help aid workers better deal with urgent health and nutrition needs.

The U.K. earlier announced that 700 troops, including Border Force and Foreign Office officials, would be deployed to a British military base in Cyprus to prepare for possible evacuations of British citizens from the region as fighting could potentially escalate.

An online portal and phone line have been reopened for British nationals in Lebanon to register their presence.

Cyprus is situated approximately 210 kilometers (130 miles) west of the Lebanese capital. The east Mediterranean island nation served as a waystation for the repatriation of approximately 60,000 foreign nationals who where evacuated from Lebanon during the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

Britain’s Minister of State for Development, Women and Equalities, Anneliese Dodds, said the U.K. will continue to support Lebanese people as it urges British nationals to leave the country.

British navy ships RFA Mounts Bay and the HMS Duncan were already in the eastern Mediterranean on Thursday, while the Royal Air Force has aircraft and transport helicopters on standby to provide support if needed.

The United States, France and other allies called Wednesday for an “immediate” 21-day cease-fire to allow for negotiations in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that has killed more than 600 people in Lebanon in recent days.

The joint statement, negotiated on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, says the recent fighting is “intolerable and presents an unacceptable risk of a broader regional escalation.”

“We call for an immediate 21-day cease-fire across the Lebanon-Israel border to provide space for diplomacy,” the statement reads. “We call on all parties, including the Governments of Israel and Lebanon, to endorse the temporary cease-fire immediately.”

The signatories include the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

This version revises the number of people killed in the Lebanese village of Younine to 19, in line with information from the Health Ministry.

An Israeli Air Force Black Hawk helicopter flies over the Mediterranean Sea near the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Yam, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)

Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a meeting of the Security Council, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

A Syrian boy fleeing the war in Lebanon with his family, arrives at the Syrian-Lebanese border crossing in Jdeidet Yabous, Syria, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

Smoke rises after an explosion during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank Jenin refugee camp, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

An Israeli armoured vehicle moves on a street during a military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

An emergency worker cuts concrete blocks as he searches for survivors at the scene of an Israeli airstrike in the town of Maisara, north of Beirut, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Hezbollah members carry the coffins of Hezbollah commanders Ibrahim Kobeisi, seen in the picture left, and Hussein Ezzedine, right, during their funeral procession in Beirut's southern suburb, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike north of Beirut, in the village of Ras Osta, Byblos district, seen from Maaysrah, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)