Pope denounces widening gap between the rich and poor during visit to Monaco

Pope Leo XIV gives a speech from the balcony next to Prince's Albert II of Monaco (R) and Princess Charlene of Monaco at the Prince's Palace of Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on March 28, 2026. MARCO BERTORELLO / AFP

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday, March 28 denounced the widening gap between the haves and have-nots as he visited Monaco, a millionaires' playground that is the surprise pick for the first western European trip of his papacy.

Arriving by helicopter from Rome, the pope was greeted by Monaco's ruler Prince Albert II and his wife Princess Charlene at Monte Carlo's heliport under radiant sunshine.

Just after his arrival at the tiny principality on the French Riviera, Leo condemned what he termed the widening "chasms between the poor and the rich."

In an address in French from the balcony of the Prince's Palace, the American pope denounced "unjust configurations of power, structures of sin that dig chasms between poor and rich, between the privileged and the rejected, between friends and enemy."