Overview
- The Élysée confirmed that President Emmanuel Macron will not attend any Masses during Pope Leo XIV’s 25–28 September visit, while the first lady Brigitte Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will attend the large Concorde ceremony that has 600,000 registered participants.
- Officials gave no formal reason for Macron’s absence from liturgies, and a planned Notre‑Dame reception with the president was canceled for “scheduling reasons.”
- Reporting says the Vatican declined Macron’s invitation to a gala dinner and refused a planned award of the Légion d’honneur, a move described by observers as a discreet diplomatic rebuff.
- Macron will still meet the pope for formal talks, receiving him at Orly and at the Élysée to discuss political issues and later hosting him at the Metz event on Europe, while the pope leads major pastoral events across Paris and visits Lourdes.
- The choice echoes France’s laïcité tradition and past presidents’ absences from papal liturgies and could deepen Franco‑Vatican coolness with possible effects on ceremonial exchanges and domestic political debate over social policy.