Morning opening: Pope Leo visits France to meet Catholics, talk AI, united Europe
Jakub Krupa
Pope Leo will visit France this weekend, the first papal state visit to the country in 18 years, beginning with Paris today.
Pope Leo XIV boarding a plane from Fiumicino Airport, Rome, Italy. Photograph: Vatican Media Handout/EPA
During the visit, Leo is expected to seek to repair the Catholic Church’s standing after abuse scandals in the country, as well as deliver a landmark speech on AI development at Unesco and talk about Europe’s future in Metz, with some other European leaders expected to attend.
He will visit the restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, as well as the famed Catholic shrine in Lourdes, among other places.
The Pope’s plane is now in French airspace and expected to land at Paris Orly airport in the next half hour.
I will keep an eye on his trip and keep you up to date.
Elsewhere, I will bring you all the updates from Ukraine and across the continent.
It’s Friday, 25 September 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Meanwhile, Russian authorities released the full results from the country’s parliamentary election, and, would you believe it!?, the main Kremlin party, United Russia, won it big time.
Totally unexpected.
The party will get more than three-fourths of the seats in the lower house, the State Duma, a record high, AP noted. The tightly orchestrated vote excluded virtually any genuine opposition, it added.
Members of a local electoral commission empty a ballot box to count votes in Russia's parliamentary election in Donetsk, Russian-occupied Ukraine. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
As Luke Harding reported last week,
“Western governments denounced the polls held in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine as a “sham”.
Russia’s supreme court last month banned the only party that opposes the war, Yabloko, from participating, leaving liberal voters with no option to express discontent.”
Pope Leo XIV walks on a red carpet toward France's President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron ahead of a meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace, in Paris on September 25, 2026 at the start of his four days visit to France. Photograph: Remo Casilli/AFP/Getty Images
Emmanuel Macron welcomes Pope Leon XIV at the Elysee in Paris. Photograph: Abdullah Firas/ABACA/Shutterstock
France's President Emmanuel Macron (L) walks with Pope Leo XIV (L) before their meeting at the Elysee Presidential Palace, in Paris on September 25, 2026 at the start of his four days visit to France. Photograph: Benoît Tessier/AFP/Getty Images
Ukraine hit two Russian oil refineries in the past day, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy said facilities has been struck in Bashkortostan and the Samara region, and that there had also been unspecified strikes in the Black Sea.
Trump made final decision to give Ukraine licences to produce Patriot missiles, Zelenskyy claims
Meanwhile, we are getting a strong news line from Ukraine, with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy telling reporters that US president Donald Trump told him during their recent meeting that Ukraine would receive licenses for the production of Patriot missiles.
In a voice note to journalists, Zelenskyy said:
“At our last meeting, President Trump emphasised to me that yes, I have made a final decision. Ukraine will receive licences for the production of Patriot missiles.”
As Peter Beaumont explained at the time, it would mark a significant shift for Ukraine – if actually delivered on:
“It would be a diplomatic coup for Kyiv, which has been struggling to counter Moscow’s increasing missile threat.
Zelenskyy has for years been asking for more of [the missiles], and more recently for a license so that Ukraine can manufacture its own. Even at the current increased rate of production it is estimated that the US would not manage to replenish its stockpile for its own use until 2028.”
Leo’s visit in generally secular France attracted a fairly unexpected level of public interest, with over a million people expected to turn out to see him during the four-day trip.
Pope Leo XIV welcomed as he arrives at Orly Airport near Paris, France. Photograph: Abd Rabbo Ammar/ABACA/Shutterstock
There are a few sticking points between France’s secular public policy and the Catholic church’s teachings, including on abortion (the right was enshrined in the constitution in 2024) and assisted dying. The French Catholic hierarchy opposed both measures, but Leo is seen as unlikely to wade into these issues.
In political terms, the pope’s visit is seen as a big win for Macron in his final months in the office: his predecessor, Pope Francis, visited France three times, but never on an official state visit.
Only around 5% of France’s 69 million residents regularly attend Catholic church, AFP noted, but some 40% see themselves as Catholic.
Interestingly, Leo’s paternal ancestors were French, so there’s also that.
Pope Leo's plans in France today and over the weekend
Later today, Pope Leo will go to the Élysée Palace for (another) formal welcome and a meeting with authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps, before visiting Unesco and delivering a speech on AI in mid-afternoon.
Children with flags and a banner gather to welcome Pope Leo upon his arrival at Paris-Orly Airport in Orly, near Paris. Photograph: Remo Casilli/Reuters
He is then expected to go on a stroll through the streets of Paris, before going to the restored Notre Dame Cathedral.
In the evening, he is due to meet with some 80,000 young people for a prayer vigil with young people at Stade de France (I decline to say what they consider as ‘young’, because I’m not happy their brackets.)
Tomorrow, he will visit Maison Bakhita social support and integration centre and hold a meeting at the Catholic Institute of Paris before hosting an open-air mass at Place de la Concorde and Avenue des Champs-Elysees and moving onwards to Lourdes.
He will spend all Sunday there, with a Sunday Mass in the Sanctuary of Lourdes, and a private meeting with victims of sexual abuse within the Church later that day.
He will then be in Metz on Monday, with a speech on the roots of united Europe, another stroll through the streets of the city, and a mass at Metz Cathedral, before flying back to Rome.
Meanwhile, frantic preparations are under way at the Élysée Palace, where the pope is expected later this morning…
A red carpet is installed in the courtyard of the Élysée Palace ahead of the pope arrival for a meeting with French President. Photograph: Stéphane Cardinale/Corbis/Getty Images
Workers set up a red carpet at the Élysée Palace to welcome Pope Leo XIV. Photograph: Teresa Suárez/AP
Church bells across France ring to mark Pope Leo's visit
To welcome Pope Leo to France, the bells of churches across France started ringing at 10am, just as his plane touched down at Paris Orly.
In fact, they are still ringing: it was agreed they would ring for seven minutes, which the Conference of Bishops of France said would be just right to “mark the solemnity of the event without disrupting civil life.”
It’s seen as “a symbolic gesture to mark the beginning of this apostolic journey and allow everyone to join in, wherever they are.”
Meanwhile, AP is reporting that in what will surely be seen as a swipe at Donald Trump, Pope Leo told reporters on board of his plane that they are always welcome to cover him, and affirmed the need for media scrutiny.
These comments came in response to a question about Trump ban at the White House, AP is reporting.
As I was chatting about politics, Pope Leo’s plane has just landed in Paris.
We should see him shortly.
People stand behind a banner reading in French "welcome in France" as they wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV outside Orly airport, in the outskirts of Paris. Photograph: Mehdi Fedouach/AFP/Getty Images
Last night Macron gave a rare prime time TV interview, answering questions about all sorts of current issues.
President Emmanuel Macron speaks during an interview with France 2 and TF1 at the Elysee Presidential Palace, in Paris. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
Talking to TF1 and France2, he denied media reports from Spain that the US Central Intelligence Agency warned Paris of a potential Russian strike across southern Europe, from the Mediterranean (Europe Live, Thursday).
“I can deny it. The CIA did not inform French services,” he said.
But he still repeated his warning about Russia’s “growing” hostile activities in Europe, saying all sensitive sites in France are subject to additional protection.
The French president also said that said any ban on US diesel exports backed by president Donald Trump would be a “bad” decision, including for the US economy.
Interestingly, French president Emmanuel Macron will meet with Pope Leo this morning and host him at the Élysée Palace, but will not attend tomorrow’s mass at Place de la Concorde in Paris.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy said the decision was Macron’s personal choice, adding that he would have attended if he were still in office.
“Some say that in the name of secularism, he shouldn’t go. That doesn’t make sense: secularism is a right, a right to believe or not to believe,” he said, quoted by BFM TV.
French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu will represent the state on Saturday instead.
Morning opening: Pope Leo visits France to meet Catholics, talk AI, united Europe
Jakub Krupa
Pope Leo will visit France this weekend, the first papal state visit to the country in 18 years, beginning with Paris today.
Pope Leo XIV boarding a plane from Fiumicino Airport, Rome, Italy. Photograph: Vatican Media Handout/EPA
During the visit, Leo is expected to seek to repair the Catholic Church’s standing after abuse scandals in the country, as well as deliver a landmark speech on AI development at Unesco and talk about Europe’s future in Metz, with some other European leaders expected to attend.
He will visit the restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, as well as the famed Catholic shrine in Lourdes, among other places.
The Pope’s plane is now in French airspace and expected to land at Paris Orly airport in the next half hour.
I will keep an eye on his trip and keep you up to date.
Elsewhere, I will bring you all the updates from Ukraine and across the continent.
It’s Friday, 25 September 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
