Non, Merci: Pope Leo, in Rebuke to French President, Rebuffs Macron’s Offer for Tour of Notre Dame

Pope Leo XIV’s refusal to have President Emmanuel Macron guide him on a private tour of Notre Dame Cathedral is a stinging rebuke to the French leader from the Vicar of Christ.The pope is expected to be in France between September 25 and September 28. The country is sometimes referred to as the “Eldest Daughter of the Church” owing to the conversion of Clovis I, King of the Franks, around the year 500 of the common era. The 267th pope will journey to Paris, Lourdes, and Metz. Some 500,000 are expected to attend an outdoor Mass at Lourdes, a pilgrimage site.The Catholic Herald reckons that the papal visit will be “an immense affair, both in scale of attendance and organizational logistics.” One highlight will be the Bishop of Rome’s visit to the recently rebuilt Notre-Dame de Paris, whose foundations were first laid in 1163. A fire ripped through the sanctuary in 2019, necessitating five years of repairs to what is the most visited monument in the City of Light.Pope Leo plans to hold the evening prayer of vespers — part of the suite of liturgy called the “Divine Office” — at Notre Dame on the night of September 26. The French Catholic newspaper La Croix reports that Mr. Macron requested the opportunity to guide Pope Leo around the renovated cathedral. La Croix discloses that “the request went through diplomatic channels. The Secretariat of State of the Holy See answered no.” Notre Dame is owned by the French state, which donated funds towards its rehabilitation.President Emmanuel Macron of France arrives to attend a Franco-German cabinet meeting at Toulon in southern France, Aug. 29, 2025. Manon Cruz/Pool via APThe Fifth Republic was hardly alone, though, in contributing to the renovation project, which cost some 700 million euros. The French fashion tycoon Bernard Arnault gave 200 million euros. In 2024 Pope Francis declined an invitation to attend the reopening of the cathedral, and he never made an apostolic journey to France. Pope Leo will meet Mr. Macron at the Élysée Palace.La Croix adds that France had hoped to award the pope the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, the nation’s highest decoration, but the Holy See declined the garland. There will be no state dinner, and no deployment of the Republican Guard, the elite military unit responsible for ceremonial duties for foreign dignitaries. The somewhat muted program suggests that the Vatican views the visit not as a political journey but primarily as a pilgrimage.One reason for the pope’s refusal to join Mr. Macron for a tour could be the French president’s support for an assisted dying law that took effect last month. The law establishes a right to assisted dying for patients of legal age who are French nationals or long-term residents and are suffering from conditions that are assessed as incurable and are causing unbearable pain.Mr. Macron declared in a statement that the law amounts to “an essential guarantee for our fellow citizens” and “rests on fully established democratic, ethical and constitutional foundations.” The law means that France has joined Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland in legalizing assisted dying. This week Britain’s House of Commons rejected an assisted dying bill by a vote of 286 to 270.In 2020 the Vatican released a letter, “Samaritanus Bonus,” or “The Good Samaritan,” that declared that the “uninfringeable value of life is a fundamental principle of the natural moral law and an essential foundation of the legal order. We cannot directly choose to take the life of another, even if they request it.” The Holy See holds that assisted suicide is “a crime against human life” and is “intrinsically evil.”France will not be Pope Leo’s only trip abroad this fall. In November he will undertake an Apostolic Journey to South America that will touch down in Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru. Pope Leo lived in Peru for years as a priest, missionary, and eventually as Bishop of Chiclayo. On the night that Leo was named pope he mentioned his “beloved diocese of Chiclayo” from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. Argentina was the homeland of his predecessor, Pope Francis, who was born at Buenos Aires, a city where he served as archbishop. Francis never visited the country as pontiff.Pope Leo plans to meet President Javier Milei, who once called Pope Francis “the representative of evil on Earth” due to the late pontiff’s views on economics and welfare. Argentina’s foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, said this week that there were “no fundamental differences” between his government and the Church. Mr. Quirno cited Mr. Milei’s opposition to abortion and his success in cutting Argentina’s poverty rate. The pope has, since his return from his summer vacation at Castel Gandolfo, also been occupied with doctrinal matters. The Church marked the 60th anniversary of its reset of relations with the Jews at the Second Vatican Council by publishing an 8,600 word note reiterating that “What Jesus brought into Christianity, as a Jewish inheritance, forms part of the theological structure of Christianity itself” and that God’s “covenant with the Jewish people is irrevocable.”

Non, Merci: Pope Leo, in Rebuke to French President, Rebuffs Macron’s Offer for Tour of Notre Dame

Non, Merci: Pope Leo, in Rebuke to French President, Rebuffs Macron’s Offer for Tour of Notre Dame

More from the New York Sun

Democratic Talk of Affordability Is Absolutely Hilarious

Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to $194 Million Scam

Trump Approves Army’s First Execution by Firing Squad Since World War II

Gold-Standard Election Forecaster Predicts Kansas Senate Seat Now a ‘Toss Up’ as Other States Move Away from Republicans

As Antisemitism Rises at New York, Israel’s Consul Invites Mamdani To Screening of October 7 ‘Horror Movie’

Le Pen Vows To Fund Schools as Police Fire Tear Gas at Violent Protesters at Paris

Wall Street to the Rescue of Mamdani

‘Are You Insane?’ New President of American Psychological Association Provokes Criticism

More from the New York Sun

Democratic Talk of Affordability Is Absolutely Hilarious

Former CIA Officer Pleads Guilty to $194 Million Scam

Trump Approves Army’s First Execution by Firing Squad Since World War II

Gold-Standard Election Forecaster Predicts Kansas Senate Seat Now a ‘Toss Up’ as Other States Move Away from Republicans

As Antisemitism Rises at New York, Israel’s Consul Invites Mamdani To Screening of October 7 ‘Horror Movie’

Le Pen Vows To Fund Schools as Police Fire Tear Gas at Violent Protesters at Paris

Wall Street to the Rescue of Mamdani

‘Are You Insane?’ New President of American Psychological Association Provokes Criticism