The organization of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France, scheduled for 25–28 September, now faces a budget that has reportedly risen from the initial estimate of 12 million euros to nearly 20 million. The French Church is seeking to cover the costs of hospitality and celebrations through donations, while in Metz, in the Grand Est region, the City Council’s decision to earmark up to 500,000 euros for the Pontiff’s reception has sparked controversy over the use of public funds.
The initial figure of 12 million euros had been announced by the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, but estimates released this month now place the overall cost at around 20 million. The scale of the events partly explains the increase: tens of thousands of young people are expected at the Stade de France, and up to 500,000 people are anticipated at the Mass that Leo XIV will celebrate on 26 September in Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Élysées.
The French Church seeks donations
The organizing committee has launched a dedicated fundraising campaign. The official visit website allows contributions to be made either for the national organization as a whole or specifically for the stages in Paris, Lourdes or Metz.
All religious events will be free for attendees. The organizers nevertheless recommend prior registration due to the size of the gatherings and the requirements for access and security.
The faithful have responded in large numbers. More than 200,000 people had already registered by mid-August for the Paris Mass, and the places available for the youth vigil at the Stade de France sold out.
Read also: More than 200,000 people register within hours for Leo XIV’s Mass in Paris
Funding for the celebrations organized by the Church must be distinguished from the expenses that French public authorities will bear for matters such as security, public order, mobility and the institutional reception of Leo XIV, who, in addition to being Pope, is also head of state of Vatican City.
Metz earmarks 500,000 euros and opens the debate
The most concrete controversy has arisen in Metz, a city of about 120,000 inhabitants that will conclude the papal trip on Monday, 28 September.
The City Council included in its supplementary budget a provision of up to 500,000 euros to cover the extraordinary costs arising from the visit. The amount is split into 250,000 euros for capital expenditure and another 250,000 for operating costs.
This is therefore not half a million euros already spent, but a budgetary allocation set aside to meet the needs of the day.
The decision drew criticism within the Council. Jérémy Roques, councillor for the group that unites the left and the Greens, questioned whether Metz taxpayers should bear these costs and described the sum as high. The controversy has already moved beyond the municipal plenary session.
This Tuesday, the Union of Secular Families of Moselle (UFAL) announced that it had approached the Prefecture to challenge specifically a 250,000-euro allocation linked to the live broadcast of the Mass. The organization argues that this expenditure could conflict with French rules on public funding of worship.
The controversy occurs in a country governed by the 1905 Law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, whose Article 2 establishes as a principle that the Republic “recognizes, remunerates or subsidizes no religion.” The discussion therefore centers on which outlays legitimately correspond to the reception and security of a head of state and which might constitute funding of a strictly religious activity.
The City Council prepares a large-scale operation
For its part, the Metz City Council presents the Pontiff’s arrival as an exceptional event for the city and is preparing a specific operation covering hospitality, information, mobility and security in view of the arrival of several thousand pilgrims and visitors.
Leo XIV will arrive in Metz on 28 September. At 10:00 a.m. he will take part in an interreligious meeting at the Robert Schuman Congress Centre, and one hour later he will speak at an event entitled “At the Roots of Europe for Peace and Unity.”
In the afternoon he will travel through the city streets in the popemobile, and at 4:00 p.m. he will celebrate Mass in Saint Stephen’s Cathedral before heading to the airport to return to Rome.
A trip that had already aroused enormous anticipation
InfoVaticana published the complete program of the trip on 7 August; it will begin in Paris with the official reception of Leo XIV by President Emmanuel Macron, a visit to UNESCO, Vespers at Notre-Dame and the youth vigil at the Stade de France. After the large-scale Mass on Saturday, the Pope will travel to Lourdes and finally to Metz.
Read also: This is how Leo XIV’s trip to France will unfold: from UNESCO to the Grotto of Massabielle
The visit, the first formal papal journey to France since Benedict XVI’s in 2008, will thus combine a significant pastoral dimension with institutional and diplomatic encounters.
One month before Leo XIV’s arrival, the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of people is increasing the logistical and financial demands of the organization. At the same time, the Metz case has shifted the debate from the Church’s internal costs to a different question: which expenses arising from a visit that is both apostolic and institutional should be borne by the French public authorities.