Pope Leo XIV begins four-day state visit to France

Pope Leo XIV arrived in France on Friday for the Vatican’s first state visit to the country in 18 years. The four-day trip will include Paris, Lourdes and Metz, with artificial intelligence, young believers and Europe’s future among the themes expected to feature. Church bells rang as the pope, the first US pontiff, landed outside Paris shortly before 10am local time.

President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, were due to greet him. Leo was also scheduled to visit the presidential palace and speak at UNESCO headquarters about the need to regulate AI. A large public programme was planned in Paris, including a 2.5-kilometre popemobile journey to Notre Dame cathedral.

The pope was expected to lead a mass on Saturday at Place de la Concorde and along the Champs-Elysees, while a later gathering in Saint-Denis was to bring together 80,000 young believers aged 17 to 35. The visit also includes Lourdes, where Leo was due to meet seven victims of clerical sexual abuse. A 2021 inquiry found that about 330,000 people had been abused as minors by clergy or lay members of the Church in France over seven decades.

In Metz, the final stop, the pope is expected to address peace in Europe as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues. France is a deeply secular country, although adult baptisms have been increasing in recent years, according to the supplied report.