Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit to France is taking shape, with French Church leaders releasing new details about the 25-28 September apostolic journey and expressing hopes that it will inspire the same enthusiasm seen during the pope’s recent visit to Spain.
The trip will begin in Paris, where Pope Leo is scheduled to pray vespers at Notre Dame Cathedral, marking the first papal visit since the cathedral reopened following the 2019 fire.
He will also visit UNESCO and join a large youth prayer vigil before celebrating an outdoor Mass in the French capital.
The pope will then travel to the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, where he will celebrate Mass near the grotto where Our Lady appeared to St Bernadette.
The visit will conclude in Metz, a city linked to Franco-German reconciliation and the legacy of Robert Schuman, the founding father of the European Union.
French bishops say the visit is above all a spiritual opportunity for renewal and missionary outreach. A possible stop at the Jeanne Garnier Medical Centre, a leading palliative care facility, remains under consideration amid ongoing national debate over assisted-dying legislation in France.
Final details of the papal itinerary are expected from the Holy See in the coming weeks.
