Pope Francis will visit Metz in northeast France on Monday to honour Robert Schuman (1886-1963), a founding father of the European Union and a devout Catholic now being considered for beatification.
He will also meet migrants in Paris and survivors of sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy in Lourdes.
Born Robert Prevost in Chicago in 1955, Pope Leo XIV has French roots; his paternal grandmother came from Le Havre in Normandy. After marrying her Italian husband in the US, she adopted the last name Prevost, which was her mother’s maiden name.
France’s relationship with the Catholic Church is complex. Historically, it was referred to as the “Eldest Daughter of the Church,” mistakenly believed to be the first kingdom to convert to Christianity; in reality, Armenia, Georgia, and Ethiopia did so before.
In the 14th century, the papacy was based in Avignon, and over the centuries, French forces frequently intervened in Italian politics, where popes were both spiritual leaders and secular authorities. Notably, Napoleon imprisoned two popes.
Recent popes have visited France several times. John Paul II made multiple trips between 1980 and 2004, while Pope Francis has visited three times but avoided Paris, opting for locations like Strasbourg, Marseille, and Corsica instead.
