Leo XIV’s France visit seen as recalibration of papacy
Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France is being examined as part of a broader recalibration of the papacy. Historian Miles Pattenden said the pope is building on Francis’s emphasis on the Catholic Church’s peripheries and the Global South while bringing Europe’s historic Catholic heartlands back into focus, with France offering a significant setting for that shift.
Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France is part of what historian Miles Pattenden described as a broader recalibration of the papacy.
In an interview with France 24, Pattenden said Leo is building on Pope Francis’s emphasis on the Catholic Church’s peripheries and the needs of the Global South while placing greater focus on Europe’s historic Catholic heartlands.
Pattenden, a historian of the Catholic Church at the University of Oxford, said France was especially significant because of its historical relationship with Catholicism and its evolving relationship with Christianity, European identity, secularism and contemporary geopolitical debates.
THE QUESTIONS THIS EVENT LEAVES BEHIND
What specific elements of Pope Francis’s approach will Pope Leo XIV retain?
What changes in papal activity would demonstrate a renewed focus on Europe’s Catholic heartlands?
How might France’s secular political culture shape the pope’s visit?
Which groups or regions could receive less attention if the papacy shifts toward Europe?
What evidence would distinguish a lasting recalibration from a temporary focus on France?
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GLOBAL CURIOSITY MAP · SEPTEMBER 2026