Pope Leo XIV begins a four-day visit to France, with private meetings with abuse survivors in Lourdes and a visit to the restored Notre-Dame. Emmanuel Macron will receive him in Paris.
Restored Notre-Dame will receive Pope Leo XIV during his first visit to France. The pope will also meet privately with survivors of abuse in the Catholic Church. Those two events give the four-day trip a weight that was missing from his visit to Spain, where no meeting with victims had initially been planned.
The September 25–28, 2026 journey is described as the first official papal visit to France in 18 years, according to Reuters and Euronews.
The cathedral was partly destroyed by the fire of 15 April 2019. Pope Francis declined an invitation to attend its inauguration. Leo XIV will enter a building whose reopening has already marked a new chapter in its public life.
The meeting with abuse survivors is just as significant because it is part of the official itinerary, not a last-minute response. During the pope's trip to Spain, no such encounter had been planned. The Vatican acted only after victims asked for one. Reuters described the 2021 report by France's independent commission on sexual abuse in the Church as a national shock. That report still shapes the setting for the visit.
The private encounter with survivors is scheduled for Lourdes, according to Reuters and AP. Reuters reports that seven people who experienced abuse are expected to meet the pope there.
At 15:00, Leo XIV will give a speech at UNESCO. Vatican News and The Pillar say he is expected to address artificial intelligence, peace and interreligious dialogue. At 21:00, he will attend a vigil with 80,000 young people at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
The programme brings state diplomacy, Church accountability and direct contact with the faithful into one visit.
Saturday begins in Paris with a visit to a social centre. The pope will then travel to Lourdes. Several events are scheduled at the sanctuary on Saturday and Sunday. The private meeting with abuse survivors is expected to take place there, putting accountability at the centre of the pilgrimage. On Monday, he will fly to Metz in northeastern France for an interreligious meeting focused on European peace and unity. He will then return to the Vatican.
The Vatican has given the meeting with abuse survivors a clear place in the public schedule. That matters in practical terms. The encounter was announced in advance and made part of the trip's programme. The contrast with the earlier Spanish visit is clear. It also differs from another recent travel story described in an earlier report about a delayed Iberia landing in Melilla.
For France, the itinerary brings Macron, UNESCO, Notre-Dame, Lourdes and Metz into one papal visit. For the Church, the private meeting with survivors is the sharpest test. The restored cathedral will provide the strongest public image. The decision to meet survivors gives the journey its real weight because victims had previously been forced to bring the issue into the itinerary themselves.
