Pope Francis is urging Europe to be beacon of peace amid war and a welcome home for migrants. He made the appeal as he arrived Thursday in Luxembourg to encourage the dwindling Catholic flocks in onetime bastions of Christianity.

Pope Francis called Thursday for Europe to be a beacon of peace amid war and a welcome home for migrants as he arrived Thursday in the heart of the continent to encourage the dwindling Catholic flocks in onetime bastions of Christianity.

As Pope Francis begins his trip to Luxembourg and Belgium, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin says Europe is “increasing the risk of falling back into the tragic errors of those times.”

While in Belgium, Pope Francis will have to face a backlash against local church authorities amid child abuse scandals. The Vatican hopes the visit will also help the EU "rediscover its roots".

Pope Francis is to pay a rare visit to Luxembourg before heading to Brussels on Thursday, a trip to "the heart of Europe" he will use to discuss the continent's role in the world. Bringing his message "to the heart of Europe" against a backdrop of soaring international tensions,

Pope Francis called for a new “missionary proclamation” of the gospel after landing in Luxembourg yesterday, the first stop in his four-day tour that saw him leave for Belgium yesterday afternoon. Stopping in the Gothic 17th-century Notre-Dame Cathedral,

Pope Francis is traveling to once-strong bastions of Christianity in the heart of Europe to try to reinvigorate a Catholic flock that is dwindling in the face of secular trends