France: Pope Leo XIV keeps visit focused on faith over politics

Home France To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: © France 24 01:19 Issued on: 25/09/2026 - 16:08 Pope Leo XIV has declined a state dinner, the Legion of Honour and a private meeting with President Emmanuel Macron, keeping his four-day France visit centred on its apostolic mission despite official talks at the Élysée. While the Vatican cited scheduling reasons, some observers see a desire to emphasise the trip's spiritual focus, even as the pontiff is set to address European security and peace during his stop in Metz. Keywords for this article