On the occasion of his apostolic journey to France and to UNESCO, Pope Leo XIV visited the Institut Catholique de Paris on Saturday 26 September to meet members of the Provincial Synodal Assembly, catechumens and neophytes. Before this meeting, the Holy Father prayed in the Carmelite Church of St. Joseph, which from 1611 to 1792 was the church of the Discalced Carmelite friars in Paris. It was there that Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (1614–1691) lived, whom the Holy Father revealed last December to be one of his spiritual masters.
The Rector of the Institut Catholique de Paris wished to involve in this visit religious of the Order to which Brother Lawrence belonged. Several Carmelite friars, including our Father General, took part in the meeting. On this occasion, the Provincial of the Province of Paris, Br Antoine-Marie Leduc, presented the Holy Father with an original edition of the Mœurs et entretiens du frère Laurent (1694), the first edition to contain The Practice of the Presence of God.
On 27 September, during his visit to Lourdes, the Pope visited on the Carmelite nuns of the Carmel of Lourdes for a private meeting with members of the contemplative life.
