Church bells across France will ring for seven minutes on Friday morning as Pope Leo XIV touches down at Paris-Orly airport, marking the first official papal visit to the country in 18 years. The French Bishops' Conference described the gesture as a simple, symbolic way for people to participate in the start of the pontiff's apostolic journey, wherever they are.
The four-day itinerary is dense: talks with EU leaders, a meeting with survivors of clerical sexual abuse, a speech at UNESCO, and large public gatherings in Paris and Lourdes. The pope, who is the first American to lead the Catholic Church, has a personal link to France—his paternal grandmother was born there.
A visit heavy on logistics and security
The last official papal visit to France was Benedict XVI's trip in September 2008. While Francis made three journeys to France—to Corsica, Marseille, and Strasbourg—none were classified as official state visits. This time, the scale is different, with an estimated cost of €27 million, largely covered by the French Church through donations. The security bill for French forces, which have deployed a vast apparatus, remains undisclosed.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told BFMTV on Wednesday that no specific threat had been identified, but stressed that police and intelligence services remain on high alert. “We haven't detected any specific threat, but there will be a major security operation in place,” he said.
The pope will be received by President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace before delivering a speech at UNESCO's headquarters, where he is expected to address artificial intelligence and global peace. AI has been a central theme of Leo XIV's papacy; his first encyclical, Magnifica humanitas, published in May, warned of the risks unchecked AI poses to humanity.
Later on Friday, he will celebrate Vespers at Notre-Dame-de-Paris and then head to the Stade de France in Saint-Denis for an evening prayer vigil with young people. On Saturday, an open-air Mass at the Place de la Concorde and along the Champs-Élysées is expected to draw around 600,000 attendees, with a million pilgrims and visitors anticipated in the capital over the two days.
Meeting abuse survivors and addressing EU leaders
After Paris, the pope travels to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in southwestern France, one of the world's most famous Catholic pilgrimage sites. The sanctuary's renown stems from the visions of Bernadette Soubirous, a young girl who reported 18 apparitions of a lady in white in 1858. The Church recognised these as appearances of the Virgin Mary, and the spring water discovered there is believed by some to have healing properties, drawing millions of pilgrims ever since.
In Lourdes, the pope will meet with seven survivors of sexual abuse who were assaulted as children or adults. A 2021 report estimated that 330,000 children were sexually abused by church personnel in France over 70 years. While many welcome the meeting, some victims remain sceptical. Arnaud Gallais, a child-protection activist and survivor of abuse by a priest, criticised the ceremonial welcome, arguing it is hard to reconcile with the scale of suffering. He told Euronews: “I can see that this meeting is important for the victims, but what I think should be a priority is for the President of the French Republic to hold a diplomatic meeting with the Head of State of the Vatican to address the issue of sexual violence in the Church.”
On Monday, the pope will address EU leaders in Metz, in a speech titled “To the Roots of Europe for Peace and Unity,” at the Robert Schuman Convention Center, named after a founding figure of the European Union. The Élysée Palace did not confirm which leaders will attend.
President Macron will not attend any papal masses during the trip. In 2023, during Francis's visit to Marseille, Macron attended a mass but did not receive communion, drawing criticism from left-wing figures who accused him of violating France's secularism principle. Green senator Mélanie Vogel wrote on X at the time: “As the President of a secular country, you can go there as a Catholic, but not as President. That’s called secularism.” Bastien Lachaud of France Unbowed similarly accused Macron of trampling on the separation of church and state.
The visit also comes amid broader debates about the Church's role in French society, including a backlash over compulsory papal day in Catholic schools. Meanwhile, the pope's emphasis on AI and peace resonates with European discussions on technology and security, as seen in EU defence chiefs courting AI firms.
