Leo XIV in France: what the pope is preparing for his visit

The Roman summer torpor could be deceptive. While calm reigned in the streets of the Eternal City, Leo Reread, amended, sometimes rewritten, they passed through many hands, including those of the sovereign pontiff himself. And the balance is precarious, because you have to say things without giving rise to controversy.

Especially since in this election year, “the pope is very afraid of a political takeover”, confide several sources involved*. A final preparatory meeting between Leo XIV and the presidency of the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) took place on August 28, 2026.

Did the legalization, in the middle of summer, of euthanasia in France play a role in these rewrites? No, or marginally, according to our interlocutors. “We should not expect a frontal denunciation, but the Holy Father should remind Lourdes of the requirement of respect for life, from its conception to its natural end,” indicates the pontifical entourage. Because, as Charles Personnaz, French ambassador to the Holy See, points out, “the Vatican upholds Catholic doctrine, which adheres to the principle of subsidiarity: national legislative changes are more a matter for the country’s bishops and Catholics than for the intervention of the Pope.”

If the law on the end of life did not call into question the trip, it affected its progress. A stop at the Parisian medical center Jeanne-Garnier, a pioneer in palliative care, was once considered, before being ruled out. In question, the management of the place which had agreed to comply with legal requirements. “Out of the question that there could be a photo of the Pope in a place where euthanasia would be carried out a few weeks later,” argues a Roman interlocutor.

Since then, the Constitutional Council has recognized a conscience clause for establishments, and the presidency of Jeanne-Garnier has indicated that it will take advantage of it. Alas, the official program has been published in the meantime…

Challenge Europe

Despite this deep disagreement, there are numerous “convergences” – the word is often used in Rome – between France and the Vatican on the international scene. “In an increasingly polarized world, the Holy See sees France as a privileged partner,” analyzes Charles Personnaz.

Seen from Rome, these bilateral relations are all the more important as concern grows about the return of open conflicts. The stopover in Metz, a crossroads city for European construction, can be understood in this way. The Pope will invite Europe to return to the intuitions of Robert Schuman for the reconciliation of enemies. A clear call to Russia and Ukraine.

Will Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky be there? Rumor has it, but the option seems to be losing credibility. The presence of EU heads of state also remains to be clarified. The hypothesis comes up against the concomitance of the General Assembly of the United Nations, in New York. The very Francophile number two of the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, will participate and will therefore not be on the apostolic trip, contrary to his habits.

“A return to faith”

For the Vatican, this sequence should not distract the trip from its true purpose. According to unanimous opinion in Rome, this pastoral visit is above all the fruit of the insistence of Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, president of the CEF, who urged the Pope to come and see with his own eyes and to encourage the revival of French Catholicism, manifested by the leap of the catechumens and the commitment of the faithful. “Rome is seeing a return to the faith in France which does not exist in Italy, even if the overall practice remains higher there,” notes an observer.

For the French bishops, the observation sounds like revenge. “The French episcopate had lost its credibility in the eyes of the Vatican,” notes a regular. A few years ago, it was not uncommon to hear in the corridors of dicasteries that France was “lost to the Church”, between dechristianization and the growing visibility of Islam.

The view is therefore beginning to change on this France which has entered the era of “post-secularization”, according to the expression of a high-ranking court official. As a source who worked closely with him assures us, “Leon

* In Rome, few official interlocutors agree to speak other than under cover of anonymity when it comes to the pope’s future speeches.