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 Papal Visits to France: Pope John Paul II, 1986 (Scott 801, 1987) Pope Benedict XVI, 2008 (Scott 1419, 2009) Pope Francis, 2014 (Scott 1599, 2015) Last week, the Holy See announced the formal schedule for Pope Leo XIV’s September Pastoral Voyage to France. Scheduled for September 25-28, highlights include: Friday, September 25 (Rome-Paris-Saint Denis): The Holy Father will depart from Rome on Friday morning and arrive in Paris at Orly International Airport. Following a welcome ceremony at the airport, he will proceed to the Élysée Palace to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and other civil authorities. In the afternoon, he is scheduled to visit the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). He will wrap up the day with a prayer vigil with young people at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. Saturday, September 26 (Paris-Lourdes): The Pope will celebrate Mass in Paris’s Place de la Concorde in the afternoon, and then leave for Lourdes, where a prayer vigil is scheduled in the evening at the Grotto of the Apparitions at Massabielle at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes. Sunday, September 27 (Lourdes): The pope will participate in events in Lourdes throughout the day on Sunday, including the celebration of the Mass at the Prairie of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in the morning, and a prayer service of the Holy Rosary and torchlight procession at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in the evening. Monday, September 28 (Lourdes-Metz-Rome): Pope Leo will depart Lourdes in the afternoon and proceed to Metz, where he will attend an interreligious meeting and the “To The Roots of Europe for Peace and Unity Meeting”, both at the Robert Schuman Conference Centre. He will depart Metz and return to Rome later in the evening. Since 1980, there have been a total of twelve papal voyages to France. Pope John Paul II made a total of seven trips to France, as well as a trip to the French possession of Reunion Island. Pope Benedict XVI visited once (in 2008) and Pope Francis three times. This trip will also mark the first papal visit to Paris since the trip by Pope Benedict in 2008. Pope Francis eschewed visiting the French capital and famously did not attend the reopening of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in 2024 following its reconstruction after the devastating fire in 2019, choosing instead to visit the island of Corsica in December. It was also confirmed last week that Pope Leo will make an extended trip to South America later this year, visiting the countries of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from November 6 to November 17. |
