标签： Europe

A devastating migrant crossing incident in the English Channel has claimed three lives, including a 10-year-old child, French regional authorities have confirmed. Two adult women, both aged 30, also lost their lives when the overloaded small vessel carrying migrants encountered serious distress shortly after departing northern France.

The emergency response was triggered after a distress call was received from the boat, which was attempting the dangerous crossing to the United Kingdom from Blériot Plage, a popular beach on the Calais coast. According to official records, the small craft was carrying 105 passengers when it got into trouble early on Monday morning.

The French Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea, which oversees maritime search and rescue operations in the region, confirmed that initial emergency care was provided to the three stricken passengers directly on the rescue craft. However, a specialist emergency medical team, airlifted to the scene by helicopter, later officially pronounced all three dead.

All surviving passengers were safely transferred to shore, with rescue vessels completing disembarkation at the Port of Calais later the same morning, according to reports from Agence France-Presse. The tragedy comes amid years of rising irregular migration attempts across the English Channel, which remains one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and a notoriously dangerous crossing for small, unfit vessels.

Pope Leo, who ascended to the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church in May 2025, has drawn massive crowds across France during his landmark four-day official visit to the historically Catholic nation, while delivering a forceful call to root out pervasive clergy sexual abuse within the country’s church institutions.

On the third day of the tour, the pontiff addressed a closed-door gathering of French bishops at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, the revered Catholic pilgrimage site in southern France. Ahead of his scheduled private meeting with survivors of clerical abuse, Pope Leo pressed church leaders to maintain unwavering focus on confronting the crisis that has rocked the French Catholic community for decades.

“You have faced with determination the painful scourge of abuse of minors committed by members of the clergy or within an ecclesial context,” the Pope told the assembly, whose prepared remarks were later released to media outlets. “It is important to persevere along the path you have begun, maintaining the greatest vigilance.”

The pontiff’s urgent appeal comes five years after a devastating 2021 independent inquiry documented that an estimated 330,000 children were sexually abused by Catholic clergy or lay church members across France over a 70-year period. Following his address to bishops, Pope Leo led a public Mass before thousands of gathered worshippers at the Lourdes shrine, with a private meeting with abuse survivors planned for immediately after the service.

The crowds that have turned out for the Pope’s visit have been staggering. A day before the Lourdes events, an estimated 700,000 people packed Paris’s Place de la Concorde to hear the pontiff speak. Earlier that day, as Pope Leo traveled down the iconic Champs-Élysées in his open-top popemobile, throngs of cheering supporters lined the route, waving to the leader of the global Catholic Church as he greeted well-wishers. That same Friday, the Pope also held an official meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the start of his visit.

During a public Mass in Paris the previous Saturday, Pope Leo used his address to encourage French Catholics to share their faith openly with broader society, urging attendees not to keep their beliefs private. “Catholics should not keep their faith to themselves but let it overflow so that those you meet may be refreshed,” he told the congregation. He also reserved special remarks for young people in attendance, framing youth as the core of the contemporary Church. “How beautiful it is to see your enthusiasm, energy and commitment, and the joy you bring to Christian communities,” he said.

The Pope’s visit unfolds against a shifting backdrop for Catholicism in modern France, a country that maintains an officially secular political system but retains deep historical religious roots. Long-term trends have shown sharp decline in church participation: the share of the French population that attends regular worship fell from 35% in 1960 to less than 5% in recent years, and the total number of active priests has shrunk by two-thirds, dropping from 25,000 in 1990 to fewer than 9,000 today.

Yet there are early signs of a small but notable renewal of interest. Over the past five years, the number of adult baptisms in France has more than doubled, reaching 10,000 in 2025, according to recent church data.

Looking ahead to the final day of the visit Sunday, Pope Leo is scheduled to meet with staff and residents at a Lourdes healthcare facility before taking part in the traditional evening torchlight procession at the shrine. Visits to France by sitting popes have long been a regular occurrence, reflecting the nation’s enduring place in global Catholic history.

A landmark moment for global Catholicism unfolded this week as Pope Leo touched down in France, transforming the iconic city streets of Paris into what faith leaders and attendees have described as a sprawling “open-air cathedral” for the historic visit. The gathering drew tens of thousands of worshippers and onlookers from across France and neighboring European countries, who filled the city’s central plazas and boulevards to catch a glimpse of the pontiff and take part in open-air religious services.

The BBC’s senior religion editor, Aleem Maqbool, has broken down the complex layers of what the visit means for both the Catholic Church in France and the country’s broader social and political landscape. Beyond its religious significance, the visit comes at a time of shifting religious dynamics in Western Europe, where secularism remains a core founding principle of the French state, but Catholic traditions still hold deep cultural sway for millions of citizens.

Maqbool notes that Pope Leo’s choice to prioritize open-air, public gatherings over closed-door, Vatican-only ceremonies was a deliberate strategic move, designed to connect with lapsed Catholics and engage with French society more broadly, rather than only speaking to the existing faithful. By turning the entire city into a space of worship, the pontiff has emphasized a message of accessibility and inclusion, that resonates with many younger French believers who have grown disconnected from formal institutional religion.

Local authorities confirmed that security arrangements were robust but low-key, designed to avoid disrupting daily life in the capital while ensuring the safety of all attendees and the pontiff. Footage from the visit shows crowds gathering peacefully along the procession route, many holding small papal flags and rosaries, singing hymns that echoed through Paris’s historic architecture. Local residents expressed mixed reactions, with many saying the open-air gatherings added a unique, joyful energy to the city, while a small number of secular advocacy groups raised questions about the mixing of religious ritual and public urban space.

Looking ahead, observers say the visit is expected to leave a lasting mark on the relationship between the Catholic Church and the French state, as well as prompt renewed conversation about the role of faith in contemporary French society.

In a landmark display of public devotion that has captured the attention of France and the global Catholic community, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims and onlookers packed central Paris on Saturday to welcome Pope Leo XIV ahead of his major open-air Mass, the centerpiece of his four-day official visit to the country.

The pontiff traveled along Paris’ iconic Champs-Élysées, traveling from the Arc de Triomphe toward Place de la Concorde in his popemobile, as cheering crowds lined the avenue to catch a glimpse of the leader of the Catholic Church. Chants of “Leo, Leo” echoed through the tree-lined boulevard as the Pope stopped at multiple points along the route to bless infants and exchange brief greetings with attendees. Organizers project that over 500,000 people will ultimately take part in the day’s Mass, for which a custom ceremonial altar has been constructed on the historic Place de la Concorde.

French political protocol has shaped the attendance of the country’s top leadership: President Emmanuel Macron, who held an hour-long private meeting with Pope Leo on Friday ahead of the visit’s public events, will not attend any of the papal Masses during the trip. The absence adheres to France’s long-standing strict legal separation of state and religious institutions. In his place, First Lady Brigitte Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will represent the French government at the Champs-Élysées Mass.

Multiple candidates vying for next year’s French presidential election have also signaled their attendance at the high-profile event. Hard-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen and conservative figure Bruno Retailleau were already spotted at Place de la Concorde ahead of the ceremony, while prominent centrist politicians Edouard Philippe, the mayor of Le Havre and former prime minister, and Gabriel Attal, also former prime minister, are scheduled to join them. Former Prime Minister Francois Fillon was also among the early arrivals at the venue.

Earlier on Saturday, Pope Leo carried out a quieter, reflective engagement at Paris’ Maison Bakhita centre, a community organization that provides support to migrants and refugees. During the visit, he commended the group for its work centering people often pushed to the margins of society, saying the organization “invites us to see those who are invisible”. He reaffirmed his commitment to inclusive coexistence, noting that “it is possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace”, and highlighted the outsized “fundamental role of women in building a civilisation of love”.

The Pope’s visit opened on Friday with a wide-ranging address to French Church and state leaders at the Élysée Palace, where he offered a notable caution about the rising global influence of artificial intelligence. Leo warned that communities must avoid the risk of “losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines”.

Church officials frame the massive public turnout for the papal visit as a signal of growing spiritual interest among populations across France and broader Europe. The trip includes additional major engagements in the coming days: on Sunday, 150,000 registered attendees are expected to gather for a Mass at the famous Catholic sanctuary of Lourdes in the Pyrenees. On Monday, the Pope will travel to Metz in northeastern France to honor Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Union and a devout Catholic who is currently being considered for beatification.

For Pope Leo, born Robert Prevost in Chicago in 1955, the visit carries personal as well as religious significance. His paternal grandmother was born in Le Havre, Normandy, in 1894; the Prevost family name, carried by the Pope today, originates from his great-grandmother’s French maiden name.

A devastating explosion has torn through a three-story building in the heart of Athens’ historic Plaka district, killing at least one person and leaving five others unaccounted for, emergency officials have confirmed. The blast, which occurred on a quiet residential street between two of the Greek capital’s most iconic tourist landmarks—the Acropolis and the Temple of Olympian Zeus—completely leveled the structure, damaged adjacent properties and left thick rubble strewn across the surrounding road.

Local initial investigations point to a suspected gas leak as the likely trigger for the explosion, though official confirmation of the cause is still pending. First responders have deployed heavy excavators and thermal imaging equipment to comb through the wreckage in a race to locate the five missing people, who have not been officially identified by Greek authorities.

According to local media reports, the destroyed building operated as an unregulated holiday rental property, placing multiple international visitors inside at the time of the blast. Unconfirmed accounts name the missing individuals as four American tourists, one British national and one Greek citizen. Reuters, citing local police sources, reports that the missing people were first flagged when they failed to check in for their departing flight at Athens International Airport.

Rescue teams recovered the body of a female victim from the rubble early Saturday morning, and search operations have continued around the clock in the hours since. Plaka, the neighborhood where the explosion took place, is one of Athens’ most popular tourist areas, located just steps from the Acropolis and packed with accommodation, cafes and souvenir shops that draw millions of visitors each year.

The UK Foreign Office confirmed it had been contacted for comment by BBC News following reports of the missing British national. As of Saturday afternoon, emergency services have not issued any further updates on the status of the search or additional details about the victims.

Four years after former Argentine international rugby player Federico Martin Aramburu was gunned down on a Paris street, a French court has handed down lengthy prison sentences to the two far-right tied men convicted of his killing. The high-profile case, which shocked both the global rugby community and French public, concluded Friday with severe punishment for the attackers whose fatal violence followed a random early-morning bar altercation.

Aramburu, 42 when he was killed in March 2022, built a decades-long rugby career that tied him closely to France. He earned 22 caps for Argentina’s national side, memorably scoring a try against host France during the 2007 Rugby World Cup that helped the Pumas claim a third-place finish. After his international career, he spent multiple seasons playing for French domestic clubs including Perpignan, Biarritz and Dax, before a final stint with Scotland’s Glasgow Warriors starting in 2010. He had remained based in France following his retirement from the sport.

The fatal confrontation unfolded in the early hours of March 19 near Paris’ Boulevard Saint-Germain. CCTV evidence presented during the trial showed Aramburu and his former rugby teammate Shaun Hegarty were seated at a bar across from Loik Le Priol, 32, a discharged French soldier, and 35-year-old Romain Bouvier. At the time of the killing, both defendants were affiliated with a now-disbanded far-right extremist group. A verbal and physical altercation erupted between the two groups, after which Aramburu and Hegarty left the bar to walk back to their nearby hotel.

Rather than letting the confrontation end, Le Priol and Bouvier got into a vehicle, circled the area to track down the two former athletes, and carried out a drive-by shooting. Aramburu was struck by fatal gunfire and died at the scene, while Hegarty escaped unharmed. In the aftermath of the killing, Le Priol fled France and was arrested by law enforcement in Hungary as he tried to cross the border into Ukraine. He told Hungarian officers at the time that he intended to join combat in Ukraine, a statement that investigators later viewed as a failed attempt to evade prosecution for Aramburu’s murder.

During the trial, defense teams for the two men presented mitigating circumstances: they argued Le Priol suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from his military service, while Bouvier carried unresolved trauma from an abusive childhood. But prosecutors and the presiding judge rejected attempts to frame the killing as an impulsive act born of circumstance. The presiding judge described Le Priol as driven by a clear “will to kill”, noting that “the narcissistic, intrusive and uncontrollable rage of Loik Le Priol ultimately led to the gratuitous killing of Mr. Aramburu.”

As the trial drew to a close, Le Priol publicly addressed Aramburu’s family to ask for forgiveness. “I’m Christian like you, the pope is here today,” he said, referencing the ongoing apostolic visit of Pope Leo XIV to France. “I don’t know if it’s a sign… [I] hope one day you can find the strength to forgive me.”

For Aramburu’s family, the verdict closes a years-long chapter of grief. In court statements, his widow Maria Aramburu said she only sought a ruling that would allow her and the couple’s three children to move forward and “build their lives as adults.” The court ultimately sentenced Le Priol, who fired the fatal shots, to 26 years in prison, while Bouvier – who fired the initial volley of gunfire – received a 19-year prison term.

A major maritime incident unfolded off the coast of the popular Greek tourist island of Mykonos this week, after a Greek-flagged cargo ship caught fire, sending large plumes of smoke billowing into the sky above the Aegean Sea.

The Hellenic Coastguard, Greece’s national maritime safety agency, confirmed in an official statement that all 29 people on board the vessel have been successfully evacuated using the ship’s own lifeboats. No casualties or injuries have been reported so far, according to initial emergency response updates.

Emergency teams were dispatched to the scene shortly after the fire was reported, with coastguard vessels on site to monitor the situation and assist with the evacuation operation. The cause of the blaze has not yet been confirmed, and investigations into how the fire started are already underway. Local authorities have noted that the fire is contained to the cargo hold of the vessel, and assessments of environmental damage are ongoing to determine whether any fuel leaks from the ship have impacted surrounding waters.