Pope Leo XIV will travel to France on an official state visit, the Vatican has announced, marking the first such papal trip to the country in 18 years.
The visit will include a stop in Paris, where the pope is expected to address officials at UNESCO headquarters, according to a Vatican statement.
Leo, the first American pope elected last year, is also scheduled to visit the southwestern pilgrimage town of Lourdes, one of the world’s most important Catholic pilgrimage sites.
The trip follows a planned visit to Spain and signals the pontiff’s renewed focus on Europe’s historically Catholic nations, many of which have experienced declining church attendance and growing secularism.
It will be the first official state visit to France by a pope since Pope Benedict XVI travelled there in previous year’s.
Although Pope Francis visited France three times during his papacy — including trips to Strasbourg, Marseille and Corsica — those journeys were not formal state visits by the Holy See.
The president of the French Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, had earlier invited Leo to France, an appeal later repeated by French President Emmanuel Macron during a Vatican meeting last month.
“We are delighted that His Holiness Pope Leo XIV has confirmed his visit to France. This visit will be an honour for our country, a source of joy for Catholics and a great moment of hope for everyone,” Macron wrote on X.
Aveline said the pope held France and its religious heritage in “great esteem”.
“It’s a great joy, but also a great responsibility,” the cardinal said after confirmation of the visit.
“In the discussions I have had with the pope since his election, I quickly realised how keen he was on such a visit,” he added.
“He is particularly interested in the life of the Church in France, its missionary zeal and also the challenges it faces.”
The visit comes as the Catholic Church continues to face divisions over social, political and theological issues, with Leo attempting to bridge differences between progressive and traditionalist factions within global Catholicism.
Church officials expect large crowds in Lourdes, which previously welcomed both Pope John Paul II and Benedict XVI during past papal pilgrimages.
