Pope heads to France on first state visit in 18 years
AI generated
ROME –
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Pope Leo XIV flies to France on Sept 25 for the Vatican’s first state visit to the European nation in 18 years, with artificial intelligence and young believers near the top of his agenda.
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XIV → fly → agenda
Church bells around the nation are set to ring for seven minutes when the first US pontiff, whose paternal grandmother was born in France, lands outside Paris at 10am (4pm Singapore time) for a four-day trip.
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grandmother → set → trip
President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte will be on the tarmac to greet the 71-year-old Pope, as he marks the first official trip by a head of the Vatican since Pope Benedict XVI in September 2008.
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he → greet → September
Seven months ahead of elections to replace Macron, in which the far right is eyeing power, the Pope is expected to touch on topics ranging from the dangers of artificial intelligence and the migration crisis to clerical sexual abuse and peace in Europe.
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Pope → replace → Europe
The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics will visit the presidential palace in the morning on Sept 25, before a speech expected to focus on the need to regulate AI at UNESCO headquarters in the afternoon.
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leader → visit → afternoon
“Human dignity, peace, education and responsibility in the face of new technologies will likely occupy an important place in his address,” Monsignor Roberto Campisi, permanent observer of the Holy See to the UN’s culture agency, told AFP.
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Campisi → occupy → AFP
‘To be near him’
A million people are expected at the various events being held in Paris for the first two days of his trip.
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people → expect → trip
Later in the afternoon on Sept 25, Leo is to wave to the crowds on a 2.5km popemobile ride to the Notre Dame cathedral in central Paris, where he will be the first pope to inspect renovations following a devastating 2019 fire.
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he → wave → fire
His predecessor Pope Francis – who visited France three times, but never officially – did not attend the Gothic masterpiece’s reopening in late 2024, when then president-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk were among the guests.
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Trump → visit → guests
Carmen Quintana, a 71-year-old Peruvian retired journalist, said she would be among the crowd as the pope headed to the cathedral.
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pope → retire → cathedral
“We’re very happy to be able to be near him,” she said of the pontiff, who spent two decades as a missionary in Peru and also holds Peruvian nationality.
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who → ’re → nationality
A relic, believed to be the tunic Jesus wore during the Passion, will have been transported out of the nearby Saint-Denis Cathedral to the stadium for the occasion.
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Jesus → believe → occasion
Only around 5 per cent of France’s 69 million residents go to Catholic church regularly, a 2025 survey found, in a deeply secular country that has enshrined the right to abortion in the constitution and approved assisted dying for some patients.
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that → go → patients
But while the number of infant christenings has dwindled in recent years, adult baptisms are on the rise, with thousands choosing to embrace the faith.
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thousands → dwindle → faith
On his second day in Paris, Leo will lead a giant mass on Sept 26 on the Place de la Concorde and adjoining Champs Elysees.
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He will then head to Lourdes, a town in south-western France where, according to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in a grotto in 1858 to a poor peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous.
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In Lourdes, he will speak privately on Sept 27 with seven victims of clerical sex abuse.
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he → speak → abuse
A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France, over the span of 70 years.
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clergy → find → years
In recent years, further accusations have emerged against charity icon Abbe Pierre and workers at a Catholic boarding school near Lourdes.
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accusations → emerge → Lourdes
For the last leg of his trip in the north-eastern city of Metz near the German border, on Sept 28, Leo is expected to make a speech about peace in Europe, as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine grinds on in its fifth year.
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invasion → expect → year
EU heads of state and government have been invited to attend, a French presidential source has said.
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source → invite → state
The Aporia
