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The Vatican announced on Saturday that Pope Leo XIV will travel to France from September 25 to 28 for an official state visit, marking the first of such papal trip to the country in 18 years.
The visit will include a stop in Paris, where the pope is expected to visit the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) headquarters, the Vatican said in a statement.
Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff elected in May 2025, is also scheduled to visit Lourdes, one of the world’s most prominent Catholic pilgrimage sites.
The trip follows his planned visit to Spain in June and is seen as part of efforts to engage more closely with historically Catholic European nations that have become increasingly secular.
It will be the first official state visit by a pope to France since Pope Benedict XVI travelled there in 2008.
Although Pope Francis visited France on several occasions during his papacy, including trips to Strasbourg, Marseille and Corsica, those visits were not classified as official state visits by the Vatican.
The invitation for the visit was initially extended by the president of the French Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, and later reiterated by French President Emmanuel Macron during a meeting at the Vatican in April.
Cardinal Aveline had earlier said Pope Leo held France and its spiritual heritage in high regard.
Lourdes has previously hosted Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, attracting hundreds of thousands of pilgrims during their visits.
