Visit of Pope Leo XIV to France: between Christian roots and call for diversity

Pope Leo At the end of his four-day visit to France on Monday, several political leaders highlighted this dimension of his message, while the sovereign pontiff also insisted on diversity, openness and welcoming migrants.

At the National Rally, MEP Matthieu Valet celebrated on X “the Renaissance of our beautiful France”, accompanying his message with a photo of Marine Le Pen smiling at a nun. François-Xavier Bellamy, vice-president of the Republicans, for his part welcomed “this France which holds to its roots, to its identity, to its heritage”. The president of LR, Bruno Retailleau, also insisted on the “Christian roots” of the country. Even Emmanuel Macron finally attended the mass celebrated in Metz, although the Elysée had initially indicated that the president would not participate in any of the masses of the sovereign pontiff.

The RN denies any desire for “recovery”

This reading of the papal visit has given rise to accusations of political exploitation. Blandine Chelini-Pont, professor of contemporary history at the University of Aix-Marseille, believes that “everyone tried to pull the rug out for themselves”. According to her, this notably fueled “the appropriation of the visit by the National Rally”, which has “for a long time exploited or recovered the Christian roots of France in its communication”.

The vice-president of the RN Sébastien Chenu rejected this analysis and denied any desire for “recovery”. He also defended the presence of political leaders at religious celebrations, saying that “secularism is not the ban on attending worship”. Gabriel Attal, present on Saturday at mass in Paris, for his part saw in the crowds gathered a need for “concord” and “unity” of the French.

A response from Leo XIV to populism

Leo XIV's speech, however, was not limited to the question of Christian heritage. During his stay, the pope defended diversity and kindness towards migrants. He also declared that “just secularism does not consist of excluding religion from the public space”. While the RN defends the ban on the Islamic veil in the street, Sébastien Chenu replied: “We are fighting Islamism, we are not fighting a religion”.

Our file on Pope Leo XIV

For Charles Mercier, director of studies and historian of Catholicism at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Études, these four days were “a way of responding to populism and the identity problems felt by a certain number of French people”. According to him, the organizers recognized this need for identity among some Catholics while seeking to “divert it from the civilizational struggle” to direct it “towards an openness to diversity”. The visit, marked by gatherings in Paris and Lourdes, also takes place, according to him, in a context of “Catholic awakening among some young people”.