President Emmanuel Macron of France, a country that is largely Roman Catholic, lead the country's numerous tributes to Pope Francis who was "always on the side of the most vulnerable and the most fragile". The late pontiff, who died Monday aged 88, will be honoured with special masses in Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.
The French President was one of many world leaders who took to social media following the death of Pope Francis on Monday.
Focusing on the pope's impact on the church, Macron wrote on X: "From Buenos Aires to Rome, Pope Francis wanted the Church to bring joy and hope to the poorest. For it to unite humans among themselves, and with nature. May this hope forever outlast him."
The news of the pontiff's death prompted homages from French politicians across the spectrum.
Prime Minister François Bayrou praised the Pope's "historic" approach, calling him a man who has triggered a "shift within the Church."
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who is also in charge of religious affairs said "his constant concern for the poor will remain the defining characteristic of his papacy".
Education Minister Élisabeth Borne, for her part, praised a "tireless artisan of peace and fraternity between peoples" who "also paid constant attention to the most vulnerable and to respect for nature."
Bonds of trust
For Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, "Pope Francis died without having aged. Humble, his life as a man of the Church will remain the memory of his self-giving for the faith and for others, particularly the most disadvantaged."
Beyond the Catholic Church, the Chief Rabbi of France, Haïm Korsia, praised his commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism, and beyond that, a man who created "bonds of trust throughout the world," in a statement to French news agency AFP.
The Grand Mosque of Paris paid tribute to "the memory of a man of faith who never ceased to reach out to Muslims" and whose "tireless quest for a more just and fraternal world will continue to inspire future generations, of all faiths".
The bells of the Notre-Dame Cathedral rang out 88 times on Monday, ahead of a noon mass in Francis' honour.
Another mass was scheduled for Monday evening and again on Tuesday.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that the Eiffel Tower would be unlit Monday evening in memory of the pope's passing.
Three visits
Despite the expressions of admiration, the relationship between the late pontiff and France was both deep and complex and not always smooth sailing.
Pope Francis visited the southern French island of Corsica on 15 December – his last voyage outside Italy and his third visit to France during his 12-year papacy. It was an honour he did not bestow on other major neighboring European countries like Germany, Spain or the United Kingdom.
But a paradox remains: despite three visits to France, the head of the Catholic Church never made an official state visit here.
And he declined to attend the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in December – an event that drew harsh reactions.
An affront
On social media and television, many – particularly from conservative circles – denounced his absence as an "affront", some even calling it a "slap in the face".
In an editorial titled Francis, the Pope Who Hates France, the weekly Le Point criticised what it called the Argentine pope’s "hostility" toward France.
The backlash led Vatican News, the Holy See’s official news outlet, to publish an interview with the apostolic nuncio – the Vatican’s ambassador – stating that "Pope Francis is fascinated by France".
The pope’s call during his visit to Corsica for a form of secularism that is not "static and rigid" also caused confusion, with some interpreting it as a criticism of a founding principle of French political life.
By choosing to go to Ajaccio for a symposium on popular religiosity in the Mediterranean rather than attend a globally broadcast ceremony among heads of state and royalty, Pope Francis aimed to highlight a region and themes that reflected his papacy's priorities.
Corsica welcomes Pope Francis with speeches, mass and historic firsts
From the tragedy of migrants to wars and interfaith dialogue with Islam, the Mediterranean region reflects many of the issues he regularly brought to the fore since his election in 2013.
"Asking whether the pope loves us or not" is a "very childish" way of looking at things, said Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the French Bishops' Conference, adding that "he takes France and the Church in France very seriously.
"That’s precisely why he doesn’t want to come to France – because he believes there are places that need him more," the archbishop added, noting how struck he was by the number of French authors cited in the pope’s writings and encyclicals.
A new era
In 2014, he went to the eastern French city of Strasbourg to visit European institutions – without stopping at the cathedral, to the great disappointment of many faithful.
In September 2023, he emphasised that he was going "to Marseille, not to France".
Yet the media and political buzz around the trip – and the mass at the Vélodrome Stadium attended by 60,000 worshippers in a highly charged atmosphere – highlighted the deep connection between French Catholics and the Argentine pope.
However, Pope Francis' relationship with France marked a clear break from his predecessors.
In comparaison, John Paul II visited France eight times, including unforgettable moments like a mass in Paris in 1997 that drew over a million people.
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His successor, Benedict XVI – a Francophile and French speaker who valued the legacy of great intellectual and theological figures – left a lasting impression with his 2008 visit to symbolic sites in Paris such as the Invalides, the Bernardins, and Notre-Dame.
While Francis was "attached to certain French saints like Thérèse of Lisieux and Charles de Foucauld," he "didn’t care much for that image of grandeur, arrogance, or haughtiness," a Vatican source confided in December 2024.
The complex relationship between the Argentine pope and France also suffered from the declining influence of the Church, weakened by secularisation and the crisis surrounding sexual abuse scandals.
With Pope Francis' death, the immediate running of the Vatican is now in the hands of one cardinal, Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell.
Known as the Camerlengo, and appointed by the pope, it is he who will lead meetings to determine the date of Francis's funeral, and supervise other organisational tasks, culminating in the Conclave to elect the next pope.
(with newswires)
