Paris denies accreditation to the Catholic media outlet Tribune Chrétienne to cover the visit of Leo XIV

The French Catholic media outlet Tribune Chrétienne has publicly denounced that it has not received accreditation to cover the events of Leo XIV’s visit to Paris and has asked the Archbishop of the French capital, Laurent Ulrich, to explain the criteria applied to its application.

The editorial team maintains that, to date, it has not been given “any objective reason” that would allow it to understand the decision and points to a circumstance it considers difficult to explain: the same outlet did receive accreditation to cover Leo XIV’s stop in Lourdes during this apostolic journey.

Accredited in Lourdes, but not in Paris

“Our editorial team does not understand by what professional criteria it could be deemed legitimate to cover the Holy Father’s trip to Lourdes, but not the events organized in Paris,” Tribune Chrétienne states in the statement released this Tuesday.

The outlet believes the difference between the two accreditations requires a public explanation. It stresses that it is not seeking any privilege, but rather that the criteria used be “transparent, objective and applied equitably to all media.”

Tribune Chrétienne is published by the association La Petite Voie and holds recognition from the Commission paritaire des publications et agences de presse (CPPAP), the French body responsible for recognizing publications and agencies that meet the requirements established for the press. The outlet also states that its journalists hold professional press cards.

Regarding its reach, the editorial team itself claims that its website attracts several hundred thousand unique visitors each month and that its daily newsletter is distributed to more than 60,000 readers.

The outlet requests explanations from the archdiocese

In its statement, Tribune Chrétienne describes its exclusion from the Paris coverage as “discrimination in the treatment of the media and a violation of the pluralism of information.” This is the assessment made by the outlet itself, which says it has not yet received a concrete explanation for the rejection.

Tribune Chrétienne argues that “freedom of the press and the pluralism of information” require that journalistic access to an event of this importance be based on transparent professional criteria. The outlet calls on the Archdiocese of Paris and Laurent Ulrich to make public the criteria applied and to reconsider the decision.

The editorial team states that it still hopes a solution can be found before the Pope’s arrival and that it will be allowed to cover the events planned in the French capital as well.

Leo XIV arrives in France this week

The controversy comes just days before Leo XIV’s trip to France, scheduled for 25–28 September and including stops in Paris, Lourdes and Metz.

The program includes institutional and ecclesial meetings in the capital before the Pope travels on to Lourdes. It is precisely for coverage of this second leg that Tribune Chrétienne says it has received the corresponding accreditation, a circumstance on which it bases much of its request for explanations.

For the moment, no public explanation has been provided by the Archdiocese of Paris regarding the specific reasons why Tribune Chrétienne’s application was not accepted.