Pope Leo XIV arrived in France on Friday for the first official visit by a head of the Vatican to the country in 18 years, marking the return of a pontiff to French soil for the first time since Benedict XVI's trip in September 2008. The first American pope in history, whose paternal grandmother was born in France, the 71 year old pontiff landed just outside Paris shortly before 10 am for a four day stay.
President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte greeted the pope on the tarmac, where a red carpet had been rolled out for the occasion. On the plane, Leo XIV told reporters he was traveling to France, as to anywhere else in the world, as a follower of Jesus Christ wanting to proclaim the peace of Christ throughout the world, a message he said was particularly important at the current time.
After a visit to the presidential palace, the pope is due to deliver a speech in the afternoon at UNESCO headquarters, expected to focus heavily on the need to regulate artificial intelligence. According to remarks reported after his meeting with Macron, Leo XIV said there was an urgent need for education in ethical discernment, so as to avoid losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives.