Vatican releases schedule for Pope Leo’s September trip to France
Vatican published the official itinerary for Pope Leo XIV’s September apostolic journey to France, covering Paris, Lourdes, and Metz. The trip features meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, UNESCO, French bishops, victims of clerical sexual abuse, and interreligious groups. Pope Leo will celebrate three public masses at Place de la Concorde, the Lourdes shrine, and the Cathedral of Saint Stephen in Metz, and visit Notre Dame Cathedral. The schedule includes visits to social support centers, a prayer vigil with young people, and a rosary procession at the Lourdes grotto.
about 2 months ago
Pope Leo XIV’s fourth‑year apostolic journey to France is slated for September 25‑28, 2026. The itinerary includes official visits to Paris, Saint‑Denis, Lourdes and Metz, with public Masses, meetings with French authorities, youth vigils, inter‑religious dialogues and a private encounter with survivors of clerical sexual abuse 1 2.
The Holy See announced the schedule on 7 August 2026, highlighting the Pope’s engagements with civil leaders, clergy, young people and abuse victims 1. It will be the first papal state visit to France since Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 2.
Papal visits to France illustrate Catholic diplomacy and interreligious engagement
Papal visits to France illustrate how the Catholic Church combines pastoral mission, diplomatic engagement, historical memory, and dialogue with other religions. The visits are not merely ceremonial encounters with political leaders: they are occasions for strengthening the local Church while addressing the wider nation and promoting peace, human dignity, and social cooperation.
The first purpose of a papal visit is pastoral. John Paul II described the pope as the Bishop of Rome who “carries the solicitude of all the Churches”: he visits local Catholics to confirm them in faith and to receive their witness. At the same time, he exercises a universal mission as a messenger of peace.
This pastoral dimension was evident in his journeys to places of particular spiritual significance. In 1996, he presented his visit as a pilgrimage to meet French Catholics, pray with them, and deepen their Christian life. His itinerary included sites associated with St Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, the religious communities of the Vendée, Sainte-Anne-d’Auray, Tours, and Reims. Similarly, Benedict XVI’s 2008 journey centered on the 150th anniversary of the apparitions at Lourdes, where he joined pilgrims from throughout the world in celebrating faith and Marian devotion.
The pope’s relationship with French Catholics therefore has two dimensions:
John Paul II repeatedly called French Catholics to renew their spiritual inheritance and to serve society. In 1996, he urged French ecclesial communities to develop their dynamism “in faith and with the spirit of service of the disciples of Christ,” while describing their Christian heritage as something to be developed in new ways.
A papal visit also constitutes an exercise in ecclesial diplomacy. This does not mean that the pope acts simply as a head of state pursuing political advantage. Rather, the Holy See uses diplomatic relations to defend religious freedom, promote peace, address social questions, and establish channels through which concrete problems can be resolved.
John Paul II emphasized the importance of relations between the Holy See, the French state, and the country’s political authorities. He welcomed “new forms of dialogue” established between the Holy See and national leaders for resolving outstanding matters, and he identified the Apostolic Nuncio as an active representative who follows the Church’s situation in society.
Benedict XVI developed this point during his 2008 meeting with French bishops. He praised the forum for dialogue between the Church and the state, explaining that cooperation is possible when each recognizes the other’s independence and autonomy within its proper sphere. Such collaboration, he argued, serves the full personal and social development of the human person.
This approach avoids two opposite errors:
John Paul II described patient negotiation concerning the exercise of religious freedom and worship as mutually beneficial to both Church and state. He also praised permanent dialogue and working groups devoted to concrete questions affecting the Church in France.
Papal diplomacy thus operates through principles rather than partisan alignment. It seeks conditions in which religious communities can contribute to society and believers can exercise their faith freely.
The papal relationship with France is shaped by the country’s long Christian history. John Paul II referred to France as a nation deeply marked by Christianity and recalled its contribution through saints, theologians, missionaries, and doctrinal teachers. Paul VI likewise praised France’s cultural, religious, and missionary influence and its contribution to the formation of European civilization.
Benedict XVI connected France’s history with the early spread of Christianity in Gaul. He recalled the second-century Christian presence in Lyon and the witness of St Irenaeus, who came from Smyrna and preached the faith in the risen Christ. For Benedict, this history also symbolized the universal character of Christianity: the Church in France was from its origins connected to Christians and cultures beyond its own territory.
The commemoration of the baptism of Clovis in Reims illustrates the delicate diplomatic use of historical memory. John Paul II acknowledged that the event was important for the origins of the relationship between France and the Church, while also recognizing the legitimacy of differing opinions about its interpretation. He welcomed civic, cultural, and religious initiatives that remembered the event within the limits of the state’s competence and purposes.
This is significant because the Church does not treat history merely as nostalgia. Historical remembrance can help a people identify moral and spiritual resources for the present. John Paul II argued that citizens benefit from recalling the values that motivated their predecessors and that may continue to orient the nation’s future.
At the same time, the papal use of Christian history is not a claim that contemporary France is religiously uniform. The historical Christian identity of the country must be integrated with respect for citizens of different convictions.
Papal visits to France also demonstrate the Catholic understanding of interreligious dialogue. John Paul II explicitly greeted Christians of other confessions, Jews, and Muslims, expressing the hope that dialogue and cooperation would contribute to the harmonious cohesion of French society.
This dialogue is grounded in several principles:
In 1992, John Paul II addressed tensions surrounding immigration and the growing presence of Muslims in France. He rejected discrimination against immigrants and refugees, including the denial of human rights, family separation, and the abandonment of solidarity with foreigners. He also noted that Christians and Muslims could meet in a common search for peace grounded in belief in the one God.
Yet he insisted that dialogue must occur “in all clarity.” Catholics should seek a better understanding of Muslim spiritual and moral values, while Muslims should also receive a just understanding of Catholic faith and the life of the Church. Priests and laity should be properly prepared, and young people from different religious backgrounds should learn to live together amicably without abandoning the distinctive demands of their own faith.
Benedict XVI expressed the theological basis of this approach by distinguishing between ecumenical dialogue—dialogue among Christians—and interreligious dialogue, which involves other religious traditions. Although their nature and objectives differ, both require a serious search for truth and mutual understanding. He warned that ignorance destroys more than it builds, while affirming that authentic dialogue requires formation and prudent discernment.
John Paul II made a similar point in 2004: interreligious dialogue should be a “dialogue of life,” expressed through ordinary relationships and cooperation. However, he warned that relativism damages dialogue because genuine encounter requires participants who know and remain attached to their own faith.
This Catholic model differs both from hostility toward other religions and from the idea that all religions are interchangeable. Dialogue is neither polemics nor doctrinal indifference. It is a meeting in truth, charity, and mutual respect.
Papal diplomacy becomes particularly visible when visits address social problems. The pope’s public message is not limited to Church affairs; it concerns the dignity of the human person and the common good.
During the 1997 visit to Paris, John Paul II called Catholics to work for a society marked by peace, harmony, solidarity, and concern for the weakest. He also stated that the public expression of different religious convictions can enrich the cultural and moral life of the nation when it occurs within a tradition of brotherhood and freedom.
This emphasis is also evident in his address concerning the World Youth Day in Paris. He linked the gathering of young people from many countries with the desire to build a more hospitable and peaceful world. He highlighted the challenges of violence, unemployment, poverty, and the search for meaning, showing that Catholic diplomacy includes concern for both material and spiritual dimensions of human life.
The diplomatic significance of such language lies in its universal scope. The pope does not speak only to Catholics; he appeals to principles that can be shared in public life: peace, human dignity, fraternity, religious freedom, hospitality, and solidarity with the vulnerable.
The organization of papal visits itself can become a form of diplomacy. John Paul II thanked French authorities and citizens for welcoming the young people who attended World Youth Day in Paris, including visitors from neighboring European nations and other continents. He presented this hospitality as an expression of France’s cultural and spiritual traditions.
This illustrates the importance of personal encounter. Diplomatic relationships are not sustained only by agreements and official statements; they also depend on trust, courtesy, memory, and symbolic gestures. John Paul II recalled the “trustworthy relations and mutual esteem” that had long characterized ties between France and the Holy See.
Paul VI similarly interpreted relations between France and the Holy See within the larger movement toward European cooperation. In his 1967 meeting with President Charles de Gaulle, he argued that states must move beyond narrow national interests toward fraternity among peoples, linking European cooperation with the broader pursuit of peace and development.
Papal visits to France illustrate Catholic diplomacy and interreligious engagement because they unite several forms of public action:
The central Catholic principle is that dialogue must be both charitable and truthful. The Church seeks cooperation with all people while remaining faithful to the conviction that Christ is the Truth. Papal visits therefore function not simply as religious ceremonies or diplomatic spectacles, but as public signs of the Church’s mission to serve the human person, promote peace, and build a society in which religious conviction contributes constructively to the common good.