Pope Leo XIV arrives in Paris at 10am CET where a welcome ceremony will be held for him before he heads to the Élysée Palace to meet President Emmanuel Macron. After his meeting with the French leader, the pope will meet representatives of civil society, authorities and the diplomatic corps. In the afternoon, he will deliver a speech at UNESCO’s headquarters.
The visit is emblematic since the UN culture and education agency faced steep budget shortfalls after President Donald Trump withdrewthe US from the organisation in 2025. In the evening, he will attend the celebration of Vespers, the traditional evening prayer service, at the Notre-Dame Cathedral during which he will give a homily. At the end of the night, he will hold a prayer vigil with young people at the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, just north of Paris.
Read morePope Leo XIV to trace back French ancestry, spiritual roots on visit to France On the second day of his visit, the pope will pay a visit to the Maison Bakhita Centre in Paris. The centre, which works to provide social support for people living in exile, was set up in 2021 in response to late pope Francis’s call in February 2017 "to welcome, protect, promote and integrate" every migrant, which he said was "a duty of justice, civilisation and solidarity". After that, he will hold an audience at the Institut Catholique de Paris.
Before heading by plane to Lourdes, he will hold Mass at the central Place de la Concorde. Upon his arrival in Lourdes, the pontiff is scheduled to pray at the Grotto of the Apparitions at Massabielle at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. The morning of his first full day in Lourdes, Pope Leo will speak with bishops of the French Episcopal Conference at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, followed by Mass at the Prairie or meadow of the Shrine.
He will then spend time meeting with and greeting staff and patients at Acceuil Notre Dame, a specialised residential healthcare facility where pilgrims from around the world come and stay during their pilgrimage. Following that audience, the Pontiff will hold a private meeting with the contemplative religious sisters at the Carmelite Monastery of Lourdes. The night ends with the traditional torchlight Rosary procession at the Shrine.
During his Sunday visit in Lourdes, the pontiff is due to meet seven sexual abuse victims of the French clergy. In 2021, an inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Catholic Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France, over the span of 70 years. The Church’s reputation has since been hit by further scandals, including a raft of accusations against charity icon Abbé Pierre and widespread physical and sexual abuse at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram boarding school in southwestern France.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
