Élysée says Macron will skip papal masses during France visit
Published · Updated
What happened
The Élysée said on September 22 that Emmanuel Macron will not attend any of the pope's masses during the papal visit to France from September 25 to 28. French authorities are preparing a large security deployment for the visit, and Le Parisien reported that attendance in Paris could reach around one million people.
Why it matters
The announcement settles a visible symbolic question before a high-attendance religious event under heavy security. It also sets the political line for how the presidency will balance state secularism, protocol, and crowd management during the visit.
On September 22, the Élysée announced that President Emmanuel Macron will not attend any of the pope's masses during the pontiff's September 25-28 visit to France. The announcement comes as authorities prepare an exceptional security operation for events that French media say could draw around one million people in the Paris sequence alone. The choice is a domestic political signal aimed at limiting a laïcité controversy while the government enters a politically sensitive budget and public-order period.
Watch for
Préfecture de police de Paris publication on security perimeters, transport restrictions, and crowd controls for the papal events on 2026-09-24 or 2026-09-25 Élysée Palace clarification of Macron's attendance at non-liturgical papal moments or bilateral protocol during the 2026-09-25 to 2026-09-28 visit Interior Ministry statement on police and gendarmerie deployments for the papal visit before 2026-09-25 Public prosecutor or police acknowledgement of arrests, access restrictions, or banned demonstrations linked to the papal sequence in Paris by 2026-09-26
Sources
- Le Parisien - Actualités en direct et info en continu · leparisien.fr
- Présidence de la République · elysee.fr
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