Pope visits France for first state trip in 18 years

Pope Leo XIV arrived in France on Friday for his first state visit to the country in 18 years. The pope, who is 71 years old, will spend four days in Paris, where he will meet President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte.

The visit includes a planned speech at UNESCO headquarters, where the pope is expected to focus on regulating artificial intelligence. Monsignor Roberto Campisi, the Holy See's permanent observer to the UN's culture agency, noted that human dignity, peace, and responsibility in the face of new technologies will be key themes.

The pope will wave to crowds during a 2.5-kilometer popemobile ride to Notre Dame Cathedral, where he will inspect renovations following the 2019 fire. His predecessor, Pope Francis, did not attend the cathedral's reopening in late 2024.

Later on Friday, the pope will lead a mass for 80,000 young believers aged 17 to 35 in Saint-Denis. A relic believed to be the tunic Jesus wore during the Passion will be displayed at the event. France has a largely secular population, with only about five percent of residents attending church regularly.

On Saturday, the pope will lead a mass on the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Elysees. On Sunday, he will meet seven victims of clerical sexual abuse in Lourdes, a town where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in 1858. A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people in France over 70 years.

The pope's final stop will be in Metz, where he is expected to speak about peace in Europe amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. EU leaders have been invited to attend the speech, according to a French presidential source.