Key point 1 of Belgium coverage

300,000 people cheered the pope in the popemobile in Paris on Friday and 80,000 young people filled the Stade de France, according to the Vatican as cited by La Libre Belgique.

Key point 2 of Belgium coverage

Léon XIV refused the Republican Guard upon his arrival at the Élysée and chose the itinerary of his visit himself, according to VRT NWS.

Key point 3 of Belgium coverage

The proportion of French people claiming to be Catholic has dropped from around 70% in the early 1980s to about thirty percent today, according to VRT NWS.

On his first visit to France, Leo XIV warns of a "paradise of machines" and challenges Paris on end-of-life law - Belgium Perspective

DOMINANT ANGLE

Brussels sees the visit of Léon XIV to France as a reflection of its own secularization, between technological warnings and reminders about end-of-life issues.

Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media

KEY POINTS

01
300,000 people cheered the pope in the popemobile in Paris on Friday and 80,000 young people filled the Stade de France, according to the Vatican as cited by La Libre Belgique.
02
Léon XIV refused the Republican Guard upon his arrival at the Élysée and chose the itinerary of his visit himself, according to VRT NWS.
03
The proportion of French people claiming to be Catholic has dropped from around 70% in the early 1980s to about thirty percent today, according to VRT NWS.

ANALYSIS

Brussels, 26 September 2026. The Belgian press is following the first visit of a pope to France since Benedict XVI in 2008 as a revelation of the kingdom's own religious trajectory, more than as a simple protocol meeting. Arriving on Friday at Orly airport, welcomed by Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron, Leo XIV spoke at the Élysée to warn against the advent of a "paradise of machines", before calling on artificial intelligence developers and political leaders to slow down the pace, according to VRT NWS. The Flemish media outlet emphasizes that the pope refused the Republican Guard upon his arrival, choosing to set himself "the rhythm, the accents, and the symbolism" of his stay, without letting the French president dictate the course of events.

However, it is the societal issues that are holding the most attention in Brussels. At Notre-Dame, Leo XIV called on France to "welcome life without condition [...] and accompany with respect [...] every stage of existence", in the midst of the application of the French law on the end of life, reports La Libre Belgique. He also mentioned "open secularism", which does not exclude the public expression of religions - a notion familiar to a country that has itself experienced its own debates on state neutrality. VRT NWS recalls that in France, the proportion of declared Catholics has fallen from around 70% at the beginning of the 1980s to around thirty percent today, a secularization comparable to that observed in Belgium.

The popular magnitude of the event is nonetheless striking the editorial offices: 300,000 people acclaimed the pope in the popemobile in Paris on Friday, according to the Vatican, 80,000 young people filled the Stade de France the same evening, and 600,000 faithful were expected on Saturday at the Place de la Concorde and on the Champs-Élysées for a giant mass, mobilizing a ton of hosts and 27 million euros, according to La Libre Belgique. The newspaper also notes the presence of many candidates for the 2027 French presidential election - Marine Le Pen, Gabriel Attal, Édouard Philippe - but the absence of Emmanuel Macron at the mass.

The Belgian editorial offices, on the other hand, are devoting little attention to the stage dedicated to immigration, scheduled for Saturday morning at the Maison Bakhita, a diocesan association for welcoming migrants.

Belgium

DOMINANT ANGLE

KEY POINTS

ANALYSIS

SOURCES (3)

COMPARE

THE 17 COUNTRIES IN THIS STORY

WHERE THIS COUNTRY STANDS