The Pope sought to quell a row over the role of religion in France and urged French bishops to defend church doctrine on marriage and divorce, as more than 150,000 pilgrims gathered for an open-air Mass at Lourdes. The 81-year-old pontiff said the church would not open up to divorced Catholics and appealed to bishops to "uphold firmly, even at the cost of opposing prevailing trends" marriage as a "stable union" between a man and a woman.
The Catholic Church "firmly maintains the principle of the indissolubility of marriage," the Pope said. "Initiatives aimed at blessing irregular unions cannot be admitted."
He delivered the homily during a service at the shrine in southern France where Catholics believe the Virgin Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous, a peasant girl, 150 years ago.
He also sought to calm a row over what role religion should play in France's secular state, a debate inflamed by the President, Nicolas Sarkozy.
The French leader, a twice-divorced Catholic, broke a taboo during a visit to the Vatican last year by calling for a "positive secularism" that would allow space for religion in public life.
Church and state in France are separated by a 1905 law. Last Friday, Mr Sarkozy said it would be "folly" for France to turn away from religion.
Opposition figures in France leapt on Mr Sarkozy's words. "There is no such thing as positive or negative secularism, open or closed, tolerant or intolerant. There is secularism. It's a republican principle," said the Socialist leader, Francois Hollande.
At Lourdes the Pope sought to calm the row.
"The church does not claim the state's place. She does not want to substitute it," he said. But he called on France to "bring to the fore" its Christian roots, which "will enable each inhabitant to better understand his country".
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(Source: CNA)