Pope Leo XIV in Monaco, March 28, 2026. FREDERIC DIDES/AFP
The princely family of Monaco, arriving before the pope, took their seats on the platform at the back of Stade Louis-II. Prince Albert II, his wife Charlène, their two children and his sisters, Caroline and Stéphanie, waited for Leo XIV to enter the AS Monaco stadium to celebrate the Mass concluding this unexpected apostolic visit to "the Rock" on Saturday, March 28.
With the brilliant sunshine marking the start of the Mediterranean spring, the entire family, including the children, wore dark sunglasses. When the pontiff arrived, standing on his popemobile and greeting the several thousand Monegasques who had come to see him at the stadium, Albert stood up and took a photo of him with his phone. It was an allegory for the worldly character coloring this whirlwind, one-day trip to Monaco. A visit that both diplomats and Vatican officials struggled to explain until the very last moment, even though Catholicism is the state religion in the Principality.
After his tour in the popemobile, Leo XIV celebrated Mass just a few meters from this princely family, as renowned in France for their escapades – splashed for years across the front pages of celebrity magazines – as for their piety.
