MILAN (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will meet with survivors of clergy abuse during a four-day trip to France next month that will include a visit to UNESCO headquarters, a meeting with French bishops in Lourdes and an interreligious meeting in the border city of Metz, the Vatican announced on Friday.
The Vatican issued a brief separate statement highlighting the meeting with several abuse survivors and noting that the victims themselves will be involved in preparations for the meeting. The timing and location will be provided at a later date.
Leo met with six abuse survivors during his recent trip to Spain, where the Catholic hierarchy has only recently begun reckoning with its legacy of abuse and cover-up after long dismissing the severity of the scandal.
In France, a 2021 report estimated 330,000 children had been sexually abused over 70 years by church personnel. The pontiff last month signaled commitment to continuing the fight against clergy sexual abuse by appointing French Bishop Thibault Verny to head the Vatican’s child protection advisory commission.
The Sept. 25-28 France trip, which was confirmed in May, will be Leo’s fourth foreign voyage of the year.
Leo made a day trip to Monaco in March, visited four African nations in April and Spain and the Canary Islands in June. The Vatican also confirmed this week that he will make his first trip to Latin America as pontiff in November, with visits to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, where he served for over three decades.
Leo will start his visit Sept. 25 in Paris, meting with President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace where he will address authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps before giving a speech at headquarters of the U.N. culture agency, UNESCO. He will later celebrate vespers at Notre-Dame Cathedral and end the day with a prayer vigil with young people at the national stadium.
Leo is making social inclusion, active participation and new converts central to his program on the second day, when he will visit the Maison Bakhita center for social support and integration before a meeting with a synodal assembly that works to involve laypeople in church matters, as well as recently baptized Catholics.
He travels later in the day to Lourdes, one of Catholicism’s most important pilgrimage sites, where he will pray at the Grotto of the Apparitions and meet the staff and sick people of the Accueil Notre-Dame. He closes the visit with one of Lourdes’ signature rites: the Rosary and torchlight procession through the sanctuary.
Leo ends his visit in Metz, near the Luxembourg and German border, where he will attend an interreligious meeting in a conference center named for Robert Schuman, a French statesman regarded as one of the founding fathers of European integration. Schuman, a Catholic, was declared “venerable” in 2021, a step in the Catholic sainthood process.
While Leo’s predecessor, the late Pope Francis, mostly stayed away from big European centers of Christianity during his 12-year pontificate, Leo appears to be paying more attention to the experience of the European faithful.
Francis visited France twice, but never on a state visit to Paris: He made a day trip to Strasbourg in 2014 to address the European Parliament and Council of Europe. He then visited the port city of Marseille for a conference on migration in 2023.
Pope Leo XIV delivers a blessing in St. Peter's Basilica, on the occasion of the weekly general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a defense agreement on Friday that would treat an attack on one as an attack on all three, Turkish and Pakistani officials said, solidifying cooperation between the three regional powers at a time of growing security concerns.
The agreement was signed in the Saudi holy city of Mecca during a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The agreement between the three Sunni Muslim-majority states brings together oil-rich Saudi Arabia and nuclear power Pakistan as well as Turkey, which has NATO’s second-largest army and a rapidly growing defense industry. It would increase cooperation and deterrence at a time of increased regional uncertainty and threats from the war in Iran.
“The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression, and stipulates that any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry and Turkey's presidential communications directorate said in identical statements.
“It further provides for the enhancement of all aspects of defense cooperation among the three States,” the statements said, adding that the agreement was called the “Mecca Joint Defense Agreement.”
Earlier, Turkish media reports said it is likely to allow joint military exercises and training, technology transfers and the sharing of intelligence.
Saudi Arabia, whose critical infrastructure and oil facilities have come under attack as part of the war in Iran, has been looking to diversify its defense partnerships.
In September, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense pact that also defines any attack on either nation as an attack on both.
The agreement also comes amid rising tensions between Turkey and Israel over Gaza and other regional conflicts, including the war in Iran and Lebanon.
A Turkish government official described the agreement as “purely defensive in nature,” saying the sides have pledged mutual support only for defense.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, insisted that the deal is “not against any specific actor” and was open for other regional countries to join.
The agreement does not abrogate or replace any bilateral or multilateral agreements between these states or with other states and organizations, the official added.
In Islamabad, defense analyst Abdullah Khan described the agreement as a natural evolution and formalization of decades of strategic ties among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, saying a changing regional security environment and the evolving nature of warfare had increased the need for closer cooperation.
Khan said the pact was “purely defensive” and not directed against any country, with collective deterrence intended to raise the cost of aggression and prevent conflict.
The analyst said three countries bring complementary strengths to the arrangement: Pakistan’s military experience and expertise in managing escalation, Saudi Arabia’s economic strength and regional influence, and Turkey’s advanced defense technology and industrial capabilities.
Sharif arrived on Thursday for a three-day visit accompanied by a high-level delegation that includes Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir. Erdogan traveled to Saudi Arabia on Friday.
In addition to discussing ways to help defuse tensions between the United States and Iran, the three leaders were expected to explore expanding trade, economic ties and broader security cooperation, officials said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said that while Sharif’s visit took place against the backdrop of heightened tensions in the Gulf, it extends beyond the immediate crisis and is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations and boosting coordination on regional and international issues.
__
Ahmed reported from Islamabad.
FILE - This handout photograph released by the state-run Saudi Press Agency shows Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, left, embracing Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after signing a joint defense pact in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (Saudi Press Agency via AP, file)
FILE - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shake hands during a welcome ceremony, in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, June 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)
