Pope Leo XIV to visit Paris, Lourdes and Metz on four-day trip to France

Pope Leo XIV will travel to France from September 25 to 28, 2026, on his fifth international apostolic journey. The Holy See Press Office released the official program on August 7, together with the logo and the motto chosen for the visit, which has an ecumenical dimension and will take the pope to Paris, Lourdes and Metz.

Over the four days the pope will deliver nine addresses, four homilies and one greeting, and will lead an Angelus and a rosary. He will also celebrate Mass in open-air squares and preside at a stadium vigil, vespers and a torchlight procession. He will hold private meetings and will meet civil authorities, bishops, young people, the sick, migrants, consecrated men and women and leaders of other religions. Victims of abuse took part in preparing the program.

Friday, September 25: Paris and Saint-Denis

The trip begins at 7:50 a.m. with the departure from Rome/Fiumicino for Paris. The pope will land at Orly airport at 10 a.m., when churches across France will ring their bells for seven minutes as a national welcome, so that the faithful can join in the arrival wherever they are. The welcome ceremony follows.

At 11 a.m. the pope will go to the Élysée Palace to meet the president of the French Republic. At 11:45 a.m. he will give his first address, at the same palace, to authorities, civil society and diplomats. At 3 p.m. he will visit the headquarters of UNESCO, where he will give his second address, to representatives of the member states. He is expected to speak there about the main challenges facing the international community and the role of education, culture and science in building peace.

Before vespers, the pope will travel about 2.5 kilometers by popemobile from the church of Notre-Dame-des-Champs to the place Saint-Michel, along the boulevard du Montparnasse and the boulevard Saint-Michel. The route will be entirely pedestrianized, with more than 50 amateur musical groups and hundreds of volunteers along it. The public can enter the perimeter from noon, and music, praise and popular celebration are scheduled from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. as the pope passes. The arrangements include 12 separate reception zones, each with its own security checkpoint.

Vespers are set for 5:15 p.m. in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, with bishops, priests, deacons, consecrated men and women and seminarians attending. It will be the first papal visit to Notre-Dame since the cathedral reopened on December 8, 2024, after the fire of April 2019. Candles bearing the motto and logo of the journey have been placed in the cathedral, and the carved statue of the Virgin and Child, which survived the fire, remains in place.

At 9 p.m. the pope will lead a prayer vigil with young people at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. More than 80,000 young people aged 17 to 35 are expected. The doors open at 5:15 p.m., a welcome prologue with music begins at 6:30 p.m., and the vigil itself starts at 7:30 p.m. and ends around 10:30 p.m.

Saturday, September 26: Paris and the first day in Lourdes

The morning starts at 9 a.m. with a visit to the Maison Bakhita center for support and social integration, a migrant reception center run by the Archdiocese of Paris and known for its work with the most vulnerable.

At 10:15 a.m. the pope will meet members of the Provincial Synodal Assembly, catechumens and the newly baptized at the Institut Catholique de Paris.

At 3 p.m. he will celebrate Mass at the Place de la Concorde, between the square and the Champs-Élysées, in the geographical, historical and monumental heart of Paris. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected at the open-air celebration. Afterward the pope will go to Orly airport at 5:45 p.m. for a flight of about two hours to Lourdes.

He will land at Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées International Airport at 7:05 p.m. and go straight to the Grotto of the Apparitions at Massabielle, at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, where he will lead a prayer at about 7:40 p.m.

Sunday, September 27: Lourdes, meetings and Marian prayer

At 9 a.m. the pope will meet the bishops of the French Bishops' Conference in the Sainte-Bernadette hemicycle at the shrine.

At 11 a.m. he will celebrate Mass on the meadow at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, where tens of thousands of pilgrims gather. He will then lead the Angelus.

At 3:30 p.m. the pope will meet workers and citizens of the Accueil Notre-Dame, the shrine's hospitality and support service. At 4:45 p.m. he will hold a private meeting with contemplative religious sisters at the Carmelite monastery in Lourdes.

At 9 p.m. he will lead the rosary and the torchlight procession, the Procession aux Flambeaux, in which tens of thousands of pilgrims walk through the shrine grounds carrying lit torches.

Monday, September 28: Metz, interreligious meetings and return to Rome

On the final day the pope travels to Metz, in northeastern France, an hour from the border with Luxembourg. He will leave Lourdes at 7:40 a.m. and land at Metz-Nancy-Lorraine International Airport at 9:20 a.m.

At 10 a.m. he will lead an interreligious meeting with leaders of other religions at the Robert Schuman Conference Center in Metz.

At 11 a.m. he will take part in a meeting entitled "At the Roots of Europe, for Peace and Unity," also at the Robert Schuman Conference Center. Metz is the hometown of Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of the European Union.

At 4 p.m. the pope will celebrate Mass at the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne in Metz.

The farewell ceremony will take place at 6:30 p.m. at Metz-Nancy-Lorraine International Airport. The return flight leaves at 7 p.m. and is due in Rome/Fiumicino at 8:50 p.m.

Motto, logo and theological meaning

The motto chosen for the visit, "So that the world may have life" (cf. Jn 6:51), takes up the words of Jesus Christ in the Gospel of John. The Holy See said it is an invitation to recognize the greatest gift brought by Christ the Savior and a call to hope and communion that encourages people to overcome divisions and to share peace, reconciliation and fraternity as signs of new life in the world.

The Holy See said the words also express the spirit in which the Church in France is receiving the visit: with joy, openness and a strong desire to bear witness to all the life that comes from God.

The logo, presented with the program, shows a circular stained-glass window recalling the rose windows of Gothic cathedrals, a symbol of the beauty of communion and unity in the Church. At the center, a pointed arch and the Cross express the apostolic and liturgical dimension of the journey. A dove in flight at the heart of the design evokes the Holy Spirit and carries an olive branch, a sign of peace for all humanity.

The blue, white and red tones, the colors of France, are interwoven with the orange-yellow of light and the green of hope, a combination meant to link French heritage with the faith and universal mission of the Catholic Church.

Meeting with abuse victims

The director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, said the pope will meet privately with victims of abuse in the Church during the journey. The meeting follows one he held with victims in Spain, and the victims themselves will take part in preparing these encounters. The date, place and number of participants will be announced later, in coordination with the French authorities and shrine officials.

The French Church has been shaken by revelations of sexual abuse. The report of CIASE, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church, was presented in 2021 and reported a large number of victims. It led the French bishops to undertake an examination of conscience, begin structural reforms and start a process of reparation and change that continues today.