The apostolic visit that Pope Leo XIV will make to France at the end of September will have one of its most significant moments on Sunday the 27th, when the Pontiff celebrates Holy Mass at the Lourdes shrine, before the grotto of the apparitions where the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette Soubirous in 1858.
The French bishops have begun to release the first details of the papal trip, confirming that the Lourdes stage will occupy a prominent place within an agenda that will also include Paris and Metz. According to the program released by the episcopate, Leo XIV will preside over a Mass on the esplanade in front of the grotto, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the Catholic world.
A shrine linked to the history of the popes
The choice of Lourdes also carries strong symbolic meaning. The Marian shrine has been visited by several pontiffs over the past decades and is one of the main international centers of pilgrimage, especially for the sick.
The last papal visit to Lourdes took place in September 2008, when Benedict XVI went to the shrine to mark the 150th anniversary of the apparitions. The presence of Leo XIV will therefore mark the return of a Pope to the Massabielle grotto eighteen years later.
France prepares to welcome the Pope
Leo XIV’s trip will take place between September 25 and 28. According to the information released so far, it will begin in Paris with solemn vespers at Notre-Dame and a meeting with French youth. On Saturday he will celebrate a large Mass in the capital, and on Monday he will conclude his visit with a Eucharistic celebration at Metz Cathedral.
However, for many French Catholics the spiritual heart of the journey will be in Lourdes. On September 27, Leo XIV will kneel before the Virgin in the very place where millions of pilgrims have come for more than a century and a half to pray, seek consolation, and renew their faith.