Emmanuel Macron to skip papal masses during Leo XIV visit to France

Protocol adjustments and mass attendance

French President Emmanuel Macron will not attend any religious services during the four-day visit of Pope Leo XIV to France from 25 to 28 September. The presidency announced on 22 September that Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and first lady Brigitte Macron will represent the head of state at the open-air papal mass scheduled for Saturday, 26 September, at Place de la Concorde in Paris. Approximately 600,000 attendees are expected at the Parisian gathering. Macron previously attended a mass celebrated by Pope Francis at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille in 2023, which prompted domestic scrutiny regarding French republican secularism. The scaled-down presidential presence follows months of protocol discussions between Paris and the Vatican.

State visit versus apostolic tour

French officials and Vatican planners negotiated the precise classification and ceremonial scope of the trip throughout the spring and summer. Roman authorities defined the journey as an apostolic visit focused on the Bishop of Rome meeting local clergy, while the French presidency prepared for a visit of a head of state. At the request of the papal delegation, standard state ceremonial honours were omitted from the final schedule. The pontiff will not receive a cavalry escort from the Republican Guard down the Champs-Élysées, nor will there be a military review of troops at Les Invalides or a formal dinner at the Élysée Palace. The French Bishops' Conference affirmed the religious character of the arrival.

He is first and foremost welcomed as head of the Church.

Background and legislative friction

Preparations for the visit unfolded against political differences between the French government and the Holy See, seven months before a French presidential election. In early May 2026, Brigitte Macron consulted an ecclesiastical expert over whether a draft bill legalising euthanasia could derail the trip. The Holy See formally confirmed the journey on 16 May, and the French parliament passed the end-of-life statute in mid-July. On the eve of that vote, the Pope urged French Catholics to unite against the measure, while Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich accepted appointment as a knight of the Legion of Honour from the French state.

The pontiff, elected in April 2025 as the first Pope born after the Second World War, has authored an encyclical on artificial intelligence that recorded significant book sales in France, while also visiting migrants on an Italian island and addressing conservative wings of the church.

Notre-Dame proposals and the Metz address

Logistical discussions also involved Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, restored in five years following the 2019 fire. The French presidency denied reports that the Vatican rejected a bilateral meeting between Macron and the Pope inside the cathedral, stating that the president had proposed a gathering with firefighters and reconstruction workers that could not be arranged because of timetable constraints. The Élysée also dismissed reports of lingering tension over domestic laws, stating that the Vatican confirmed the visit with full knowledge of the legislative calendar.

The tour concludes on Monday, 28 September, in Metz, where the Pope will deliver an address on European policy. Macron will introduce the pontiff before an audience that includes invited heads of state and government from the 26 other European Union member nations.