Pope Leo XIV’s trip to France started very successfully today in Paris. The Pope will stay four days, from September 25 to 28, and will be visiting Paris, Saint-Denis, Lourdes and Metz. Other than a meeting with President Macron at the Élysée and 500 important guests, for starters, the Pope addressed UNESCO at 3 p.m., then toured downtown Paris in the popemobile, before celebrating the Vespers for ecclesiastical personnel at Notre Dame, and concluded this evening with a prayer meeting with some 80,000 youth at the Stade de France in Paris.

The Pope was also welcomed by around 10 Schiller Institute organizers who distributed some 8,000 leaflets: a two page format of the international call to the Pope, shortened and with a sharper and more specific introduction. A courageous organizer deployed a banner, which was rather immediately confiscated by the police. Schiller Institute organizers will also be deployed in Metz to receive the Pope. More specifics tomorrow.