Pope Leo XIV Begins Historic France Visit

Pope Leo XIV arrived in France on Friday for the Vatican’s first state visit in 18 years, with artificial intelligence, young Catholics, and Europe’s future among the key issues on his agenda.

Church bells rang across France as Leo, the first US-born pope whose paternal grandmother was born in France, landed near Paris shortly before 10 am local time.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, welcomed the 71-year-old pope at the airport.

The four-day visit is the first official trip to France by a Vatican leader since Pope Benedict XVI visited in September 2008.

About one million people are expected to attend events across Paris during the first two days of the visit, with the main event scheduled for Saturday when Leo will celebrate a large Mass at Place de la Concorde and along the Champs-Élysées.

The pope will also travel to Lourdes, one of Christianity’s major pilgrimage sites, and Metz near the German border, a city closely linked to Robert Schuman, one of the founding figures of the European Union.

The visit comes seven months before France’s presidential election, with the far right seeking greater influence, and Leo is expected to address issues including artificial intelligence, migration, clerical sexual abuse and peace in Europe.

On Friday, he was scheduled to meet Macron at the presidential palace before delivering a speech at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters focused on the need for greater regulation of artificial intelligence.

Later in the day, Leo was due to travel through central Paris in the popemobile before visiting Notre Dame Cathedral. He will be the first pope to inspect the cathedral since restoration work began after the devastating 2019 fire.

His predecessor Pope Francis visited France three times but never made an official state visit. He also did not attend Notre Dame’s reopening in late 2024, an event that was attended by figures including then US president-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk.

The final major event of Leo’s visit to Paris will be a gathering of about 80,000 young Catholics aged 17 to 35 at a stadium in the suburb of Saint-Denis.

A relic traditionally believed to be the tunic Jesus wore during the Passion will also be taken from nearby Saint-Denis Cathedral to the stadium for the event.

France is a deeply secular country, with only about five per cent of its 69 million residents attending Catholic services regularly, according to a survey published last year.

While infant baptisms have declined, adult baptisms have increased, with thousands of people joining the Catholic faith in recent years.

Macron will not attend Saturday’s Mass, but several potential presidential candidates, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Edouard Philippe, are expected to be present.

After Paris, Leo will travel to Lourdes on Sunday, where Catholic tradition holds that the Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl in a grotto in 1858. During the visit, the pope will meet seven victims of clerical sexual abuse.

A 2021 inquiry estimated that about 330,000 people were abused as minors by members of the Catholic Church in France over a period of seven decades.

Further allegations have since emerged involving figures including charity icon Abbe Pierre and staff at a Catholic boarding school near Lourdes.

Leo will conclude his trip in Metz on Monday, where he is expected to deliver a speech addressing peace in Europe as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth year.