Visit of Pope Leo XIV to France: the Church calls for donations and relies on derivative products

Pope Leo XIV will be in France from September 25 to 28, visiting Paris, Metz, and Lourdes. In the capital, nearly 500,000 people are expected for the mass at Place de la Concorde. While the state is covering the security of the faithful with police officers and gendarmes deployed, the rest of the pope's visit is the responsibility of the Church of France, not the Vatican.

The Church must pay for screens, sound systems, the installation of restrooms, and also the rental of the Stade de France. That is why the Archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, welcomed the pope's arrival in a video published on social media in early August, while calling on the faithful to donate. "I am calling on your generosity today. Whatever the amount, your donation will concretely help make this exceptional encounter possible," can be heard in this post.

To finance the event, it is also possible to buy around thirty items featuring the official logo of the visit: a dove drawn inside a stained-glass window, as well as rosaries for 12 euros, bracelets for 2 euros, caps, t-shirts, keychains, and more. As the Church notes: "Your purchases of official Pope in France products contribute to financing his visit."

Will Pope Leo XIV drive as many sales as Pope Francis?

In a "Catho Rétro" shop in Paris's 6th arrondissement, visitors can find medals and message bracelets reading: "Long live Pope Leo XIV, France, September 2026." "We've already restocked the embroidered ribbons because we ran out," says Clémence, the store manager. "People are happy to be able to find a little souvenir," she adds.

On the same street, the title *Magnifique humanité* is prominently displayed at the Catholic bookstore La Procure. It is Leo XIV's encyclical—the Pope's letter to the faithful—on the theme of artificial intelligence. "It sold very, very well and brought in a lot of people. We sold more than 15,000 copies in this bookstore alone over a few months. It's among the highest records," assures Thomas Jobbé-Duval, general manager of La Procure.

In fact, he will be expanding the counter dedicated to the Pope as his visit approaches—a visit eagerly awaited by his customers, since the last time a Supreme Pontiff came to Paris was in 2008 with Benedict XVI. Leo XIV "is a somewhat more unifying figure than Benedict XVI, who was seen as more intellectual, more of a theologian," he assesses. For Thomas Jobbé-Duval, "you can feel that there is a rather special enthusiasm here for the words" of Leo XIV. For the past few days, this bookstore has also been offering t-shirts inspired by the Pope, as well as candles and medallions.