(Vatican News) — Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to make an apostolic journey to France Sept. 25-28 this year, according to an announcement from the director of the Holy See Press Office Matteo Bruni.
The visit will be the first time a pope has traveled to France on an official papal state visit since Pope Benedict XVI in 2008, when he journeyed to Paris and Lourdes.
The journey comes as a response to the invitations made by France’s head of state, the ecclesiastical authorities of the country, and the director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the press office statement noted.
During the apostolic journey, Pope Leo will visit the headquarters of UNESCO.
“Leo XIV is coming to France: it is a great joy, but also a great responsibility!” said Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, president of the French bishops’ conference, in a May 16 statement. The cardinal noted that the pope is particularly interested in what the Church in France is experiencing, both in its challenges and its missionary opportunities. The French bishops’ conference has also launched a website for sharing details of the pope’s trip.
Possible sites to see in France during visit
The French bishops’ conference had confirmed a September trip was expected in a May 6 press release, but did not share exact dates.
During the visit, the French bishops suggested Pope Leo will travel to Paris and to the Marian Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.
As of May 6, logistical preparations for the pope’s visit were well underway in Lourdes.
“We have developed a preliminary program with the presidency of the bishops’ conference and with the Archdiocese of Paris,” Bishop Jean-Marc Micas of Tarbes and Lourdes told OSV News in early May. “It is planned that the pope will celebrate a solemn Mass on the sanctuary’s lawn and preside over the torchlight procession in the evening, before spending the night there, though we are awaiting confirmation from the Vatican.”
“The 320 employees of the Sanctuary of Lourdes are absolutely delighted by this prospect,” Bishop Micas added. “But we now need to assemble larger teams to manage such an event and to continue welcoming the pilgrims and the sick who will come at that time. We must encourage people to come then, without letting themselves be intimidated by the security measures,” he said, adding with emotion: “It will be a great celebration!”
In Paris, the pope is expected to visit Notre Dame Cathedral, as well as the Collège des Bernardins, although nothing has yet been officially confirmed.
Located close to Notre Dame, the Collège des Bernardins is a former Cistercian college of the historic University of Paris, dating from the 13th century, which the Archdiocese of Paris has renovated to serve as a venue for high-level intellectual and cultural gatherings. While on his 2008 apostolic journey to France marking the 150th anniversary of the Lourdes apparitions, Pope Benedict XIV visited the Collège to deliver a speech to cultural figures and political leaders.
The Vatican’s May 16 announcement noted Pope Leo will visit the headquarters of UNESCO, a United Nations agency initially established in the 1940s to promote collaboration in rebuilding education, science and culture in Europe following World War II. As the United Nations grew in members, its activities have expanded to facilitate and complement national efforts of member states to eliminate illiteracy and poverty, address underdevelopment, and protect countries’ natural and cultural heritage.
Vatican-France state connections
Pope Leo and French President Emmanuel Macron met on April 10 for the first time since the pontiff’s election to the See of Peter.
However, it was not the president’s first papal audience. Since his election in 2017, President Macron has made several visits to the Vatican, where he was received in 2018, 2021 and 2022 by Pope Francis. The two men met again during private talks in Marseille in September 2023, at the Borgo Egnazia G7 summit in June 2024, and then in December 2024 in Ajaccio, France.
Pope Leo’s September visit will fall just before the start of the campaign season for the spring 2027 presidential elections, which will bring an end to Emmanuel Macron’s two consecutive five-year terms as president of the republic.
Pope Francis made three apostolic trips to France: to Strasbourg in 2014, to Marseille in 2023 and to Corsica in December 2024 for specific occasions and a brief time. However, the late pontiff never conducted an official state visit to the country.
A version of this story was originally published by Vatican News, and is distributed through a partnership with OSV News. Caroline de Sury, who writes for OSV News from Paris, contributed to this report.
