Pope Francis meets the Catholic Community in the Luxembourg's Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Luxembourg, Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

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.

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

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