Mark O'Farrell

On his return flight from France, Pope Leo XIV is asked about the steady decline of Catholic Church in Germany and the astonishing rise of both the extremist Left and Far Right in Germany. On the former the Pope says: "The phrase you said the Church is dying in Germany, or the diminishing numbers. People have said that about France in the past and yet we saw what happened over the past four days. I believe that if we find the true missionary spirit and the right way to go about it, there are still many, many people in Germany who want to live and celebrate their Christian and Catholic faith." On the latter: "we go back to the values of the Gospel, which are not about hatred and division, but they're about understanding and compassion and accompanying. I hope deeply, and hopefully the Church can also be a part of this—that we can find ways of reaching out to a majority of people of goodwill who will understand how important that their commitment, even in terms of participating in political processes, will enable them to make clear choices for the common good and not for extremist ideas that perhaps will do much more damage than we are even aware of right now."