Sourced fact
The News
Erin Ogunkeye, pleased to welcome Miles Pattenden, historian of the Catholic Church at the University of Oxford, who sees Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France as part of a broader recalibration of the papacy. While Pope Francis placed particular emphasis on the Catholic Church’s peripheries and the needs of the Global South, Leo is subtly bringing the Church’s historic European heartlands back into focus.
Analysis & context
Analysis & Context
From an analytical perspective, Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France indicates a change in papal strategy, where the focus is being redirected towards traditional European areas after the shift initiated by Pope Francis towards the peripheries and the Global South. In a broader context, France holds particular significance due to its deep historical ties with the Catholic Church and its evolving relationship with Christianity, European identity, secularism, and current geopolitical debates.
