--- title: Macron Will Not Attend Pope Leo XIV Masses During France Visit url: https://www.faithfulnews.com/en/macron-will-not-attend-pope-leo-xiv-masses-during-france-visit published: 2026-09-26T18:49:29+00:00 language: en section: World Church source: https://signum.se/om-pavens-stundande-frankrikeresa/ organizations: Catholic, Élysée Palace, French, Lourdes, Metz, Notre Dame Cathedral publisher: FaithfulNews --- # Macron Will Not Attend Pope Leo XIV Masses During France Visit French President Emmanuel Macron will not attend any of the three major public services with Pope Leo XIV during his France visit that begins on Friday, September 25. The Élysée Palace announced on Tuesday, according to French mass media, that Macron will not take part in the services. On Saturday, during the open-air mass at Place de la Concorde in Paris, the president will be represented by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and First Lady Brigitte Macron. On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV will celebrate mass in the pilgrimage site of Lourdes, and on Monday he will hold a service in the cathedral of Metz. On Friday evening, a vesper at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris will be attended mainly by bishops, priests, deacons, members of religious orders and seminarians from all over France. In 2023, President Macron, a Catholic himself, attended a service in Marseille with his predecessor Pope Francis despite prior criticism that he would be violating France's strict secularism, or laïcité. During this state and pastoral visit, Macron will only receive Pope Leo XIV at the airport and shortly thereafter officially receive him at the Élysée Palace, the president's official residence. At the Élysée Palace, after meeting Macron, the Pope will also deliver a speech to representatives of public institutions, civil society and the diplomatic corps. The Élysée Palace's visit program was developed without tensions with Rome. Advisors close to Macron dismissed recent mass media reports claiming that the Holy See had rejected a proposed gala dinner with the Pope suggested by the French presidential office and a private tour of Notre Dame Cathedral, personally led by the President, which was rebuilt after the 2019 fire. Before all state visits, the presidential office suggests a comprehensive package of possible program points that are then "adapted," according to the news agency AFP. For example, a military parade at the Invalides or a procession on the Champs-Elysées with an escort of a cavalry regiment from the Republican Guard would be "naturally inappropriate" for a papal visit. Pope Leo XIV's program has been developed "quietly" and without any conflicts with the Vatican. According to AFP, the Élysée Palace acknowledged that Macron had wished for the Pope to meet rescue workers and craftsmen involved in the rescue and rebuilding of Notre Dame, but this was "not possible" for "planning reasons." Leading figures from EU countries have been invited to attend Pope Leo's speech in Metz. Last week, the weekly newspaper Le Point reported that Macron had invited all EU heads of state and government to attend Pope Leo's speech on Monday in the Robert Schumann Congress Center in Metz. The Pope will speak about reconciliation, peace and European unity. The President's office confirmed this, but it remains unclear which leading figures will accept the invitation to Metz. "Invitations have been sent out, and responses continue to arrive." According to APA, the government chief Christian Stocker (ÖVP) from Vienna announced on Tuesday that he cannot accept the invitation. President Macron will, however, attend the speech in Metz and introduce Pope Leo's address with his own speech "on the subject of European reconstruction as a model for peace," the Élysée Palace announced. Pope Leo XIV's visit to France, which begins on Friday and ends on Monday, is the first papal state visit to the country since Pope Benedict XVI's (2005-2013) visit in 2008. Pope Francis had visited France three times, namely in 2014 in Strasbourg, in 2023 in Marseille and in 2024 in Corsica. However, those visits were to European institutions and pastoral visits, not official state visits. The French bishops expect approximately one million people to attend the various events in Paris, Saint-Denis, Lourdes and Metz. The motto of the visit is "For the world to live." In Paris, Pope Leo will also visit the headquarters of the world culture organization UNESCO. A few days before the papal visit, anticipation prevails among priests, religious orders and church workers as well as among the 17,000 volunteers who have registered to ensure the visit proceeds smoothly, according to the Apostolic Nuncio in France, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, in a conversation with Vatican Radio on Tuesday. "There is a mood of great anticipation, joyful anticipation. One notices great delight throughout France, not only among Catholics." From Pope Leo, the French expect above all a message of hope amid the difficulties currently facing French society, said the Vatican diplomat. "There is great anticipation of the throne and the Church's commitment will be confirmed through the Pope, for the benefit of society." Pope Leo, who has been Pope since May 2025, is making his fifth foreign trip under his pontificate. In late autumn 2025, the US-born Pope visited Turkey and Lebanon; in March 2026, he made a one-day visit to the Principality of Monaco; in April 2026, he carried out a twelve-day journey through four African countries (Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea); and in June he visited Spain. After the France visit, he will travel to South America from November 6 to 17, visiting Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.