16, May 2026
The Holy Father to visit France in September 0
Pope Leo XIV will travel to France for an official state visit from September 25 to 28, the Vatican announced on Saturday, the first such trip by a pontiff in 18 years.
The first pope from the United States, elected in May 2025, will notably travel to Paris for a visit to the headquarters of UNESCO, the United Nations culture agency, the Vatican said in a statement.
The visit will come after a trip to Spain in June, demonstrating the pope’s interest in engaging with historically Catholic but increasingly secular European countries that had been largely overlooked by his predecessor, Francis.
It will be the first papal state visit to France since Benedict XVI went in September 2008.
While Francis visited France three times as pope – to Strasbourg, Marseille and the island of Corsica – those trips were not official visits by the Holy See.
The president of the French Bishops’ Conference (CEF), Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, had extended an invitation to Leo to visit France, one repeated by President Emmanuel Macron during his visit to the pontiff at the Vatican in April.
“We are delighted that His Holiness Pope Leo XIV has confirmed his visit to France. This visit next September will be an honour for our country, a source of joy for Catholics and a great moment of hope for everyone,” Macron posted on X.
‘Missionary zeal’
A French speaker, Leo had expressed on various occasions “the great esteem in which he holds our country and her spiritual history,” Aveline said earlier in May.
“It’s a great joy, but also a great responsibility,” the cardinal said on Saturday after the visit was confirmed.
“In the discussions I have had with the pope since his election, I quickly realised how keen he was on such a visit … He is particularly interested in the life of the Church in France, its missionary zeal and also the challenges it faces,” Aveline added.
It comes at a time when the Church has had to grapple with various splits on social, political, ethical and theological issues, with Leo seeking to mediate with both the progressive and traditionalist factions within Catholicism.
Besides the capital, the pontiff will also travel to Lourdes, a site of pilgrimage for Christians worldwide.
The southwestern French town’s important Catholic shrine welcomed Jean-Paul II in 1983 and in 2004, as well as Benedict in 2008. Each time, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered to see the pope, according to the sanctuary.
Source: AFP
19, June 2026
EU leaders back stronger trade defenses amid Chinese export surge 0
EU leaders agreed during talks Thursday that the bloc must develop beefed-up trade defenses to curb a surge of Chinese exports deemed an existential threat to European industry by Brussels — while simultaneously seeking “constructive dialogue” with Beijing.
There is a growing consensus in the European Union that it is too dependent on China, and Brussels fears this makes it vulnerable to potential coercion and supply shocks.
The 27-nation bloc’s trade deficit in goods hit around 360 billion euros ($413 billion) last year, meaning Chinese exports sharply exceeded the EU’s.
During a two-hour summit dinner in Brussels, leaders chewed over how the EU could address the imbalance, and whether the bloc needed to boost its arsenal.
After talks ended early on Friday, an EU official said the leaders tasked the commission with continuing to engage “in a constructive dialogue with our main economic partners” but did not directly say China.
They also asked the executive “to develop and eventually complement the toolbox in the area of trade defense” and to make sure the EU has “all the instruments it needs to defend its interests and derisk”, the official said.
While EU capitals agree on a common diagnosis, the positions differ on the cure and several leaders on Thursday had called for dialogue as a priority.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez struck a more conciliatory tone than his counterparts before the dinner.
“We need friends, we need balanced relationships, we need to be pragmatic, and we need to build bridges both with major economies and potential allies, such as China,” Sanchez told reporters.
Following Trump’s playbook?
One way to beef up the EU’s arsenal could be creating a new tool to impose sector-specific tariffs such as chemicals or green tech — taking a page out of President Donald Trump’s playbook.
French President Emmanuel Macron last month called for a “European equivalent of Section 301” — the trade tool Trump has employed to set sweeping tariffs — arguing Europe’s “sovereignty is at stake”.
Germany has until now adopted a cautious posture because its economy is more exposed to potential retaliation, while Spain has sought to avoid tensions as it chases Chinese investment.
But Berlin appeared to be coming around to France’s way of thinking.
A German official said Berlin was “open” to new tools if they are necessary so long as they were “not targeted at specific recipients”.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, however, would not be drawn on China by reporters in Brussels.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said before the dinner he wanted to see “the shape and nature of any mechanisms” introduced but warned Europe had to make sure it understood the consequences.
The EU official did not comment on what any new tools would look like.
Concern about Chinese dominance is not limited to the EU.
Fears are rising in the West over Beijing’s control in the market for rare earth minerals used in everyday electronic appliances, and China was on the agenda of G7 talks in France this week.
Brussels often evokes the need for fair competition, pointing to the unfair advantage Chinese companies have because of massive state subsidies.
Between 2005 and 2024, Chinese firms received around three to eight times more government support than firms in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, according to the OECD, which called it “a conservative estimate”.
EU appetite for a fight?
Even as its resolve appears to be hardening, the EU has shown no appetite to trigger a broader trade war with China.
Fears over Chinese retaliation are not unfounded.
After the EU hit Chinese electric cars with higher tariffs in 2024, China imposed anti-dumping duties on European cognac.
And Beijing has vowed to hit back if the EU pushes through rules that would exclude certain products manufactured outside the bloc from public contracts.
Sefcovic has invited Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao to Brussels later this month as the bloc still hopes it can prevent escalation through dialogue with China — but an EU official would not confirm the visit.
Source: AFP