French President Emmanuel Macron meets Pope Leo XIV this Friday morning from 10 am at Vatican City. This first encounter, nearly a year after the American pontiff's election as successor to Francis, covers the Middle East war, end-of-life issues, Catholic schools, and Algeria. Macron will invite the pope to France, with a trip under study for September.
Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to meet Pope Leo XIV from 10 am this Friday at the Vatican. The Élysée describes the visit as fitting « in the republican and secular tradition ». The one-year delay since the pope's election is blamed on international crises that « caught up with the agenda ».
The Middle East war will dominate discussions. Macron calls for de-escalation, while Leo XIV, the first American pope, has hardened his tone against Donald Trump and issued a vibrant appeal during his Sunday urbi et orbi blessing. Other topics include peace in South Lebanon, Iran, and Ukraine, plus divergences on euthanasia and Catholic education.
Macron will extend an invitation for the pope to visit France, seriously under study at the Vatican and possibly in September. It would be the first official trip in eighteen years, since Benedict XVI's. Francis visited France three times, but incompletely.
This meeting marks the first face-to-face between the president at the end of his term and the pope at the start of his pontificate.
