https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from France in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed Pope Leo XIV and French President Emmanuel Macron held their first meeting on Friday, a private audience at the Vatican where discussions ranged from the Iran war to basketball. https://www.thelocal.fr/20260410/frances-macron-talks-war-peace-and-basketball-with-pope-leo Fri, 10 Apr 2026 16:40:50 +0200 frances-macron-talks-war-peace-and-basketball-with-pope-leo You might not have thought about it too much as you enjoyed an extra day off work, but it is perhaps unexpected that France - proudly secular since 1905 - has so many public holidays based around Catholic festivals. https://www.thelocal.fr/20220816/reader-question-why-does-secular-france-have-catholic-holidays Tue, 16 Aug 2022 15:49:00 +0200 reader-question-why-does-secular-france-have-catholic-holidays A mother superior for four decades isolated and bullied nuns in her care living in the French capital's Montmartre neighbourhood, a report showed on Thursday. https://www.thelocal.fr/20260115/french-mother-superior-bullied-nuns-in-montmartre Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:59:56 +0100 french-mother-superior-bullied-nuns-in-montmartre It's a massive nationwide party in neighbouring Spain, while Italy, Portugal and several Latin American countries get an extra day off work - so what happens in France on the Festival of Epiphany? https://www.thelocal.fr/20240102/why-isnt-january-6th-a-public-holiday-in-france Tue, 02 Jan 2024 17:20:31 +0100 why-isnt-january-6th-a-public-holiday-in-france France is a secular republic and has laws in place to ensure that religion plays no part in the state - so Christmas is largely counted as a non-religious holiday. Here's how that works. https://www.thelocal.fr/20221221/why-is-christmas-a-holiday-in-secular-france Wed, 21 Dec 2022 14:49:26 +0100 why-is-christmas-a-holiday-in-secular-france France's interior minister on Sunday said he opposed a proposal put before parliament to ban young girls wearing the Muslim headscarf, saying such a move risked being "stigmatising" for the minors. https://www.thelocal.fr/20251130/french-interior-minister-opposes-stigmatising-hijab-ban-for-minors Sun, 30 Nov 2025 18:29:21 +0100 french-interior-minister-opposes-stigmatising-hijab-ban-for-minors November 1st is All Saints' Day in the Catholic calendar - Toussaint in French - and it is a public holiday in France. Here's what happens on the day. https://www.thelocal.fr/20251030/toussaint-how-the-french-mark-all-saints-day Thu, 30 Oct 2025 17:51:48 +0100 toussaint-how-the-french-mark-all-saints-day French police launched an investigation on Tuesday after nine pig heads were found outside several mosques in the Paris region, the city's police chief said, saying further findings were possible. https://www.thelocal.fr/20250909/pig-heads-left-outside-french-mosques Tue, 09 Sep 2025 13:15:19 +0200 pig-heads-left-outside-french-mosques The practice of polygamous marriage has been the subject of a surprising number of culture wars in France, and can also get your application for French citizenship and residency refused. https://www.thelocal.fr/20250814/why-is-france-so-worried-about-polygamy Thu, 14 Aug 2025 14:17:33 +0200 why-is-france-so-worried-about-polygamy A French archbishop's decision to promote a priest who was sentenced to jail for raping a teenaged boy has drawn new condemnation of the Roman Catholic Church for its record on sex abuse. https://www.thelocal.fr/20250713/sex-abuse-priests-promotion-draws-attacks-on-french-catholic-church Sun, 13 Jul 2025 12:12:49 +0200 sex-abuse-priests-promotion-draws-attacks-on-french-catholic-church It was perhaps inevitable, but planned tributes in France following the death of Pope Francis have led to a row about the principle of state secularism. https://www.thelocal.fr/20250423/france-engulfed-in-secularism-row-over-tributes-to-pope Wed, 23 Apr 2025 14:54:11 +0200 france-engulfed-in-secularism-row-over-tributes-to-pope On the outskirts of Paris, 44-year-old French Muslim weightlifter Sylvie Eberena concentrates hard and pushes 80 kilos of bar and weights clean over her hijab-covered head. https://www.thelocal.fr/20250404/athletes-frustrated-as-france-mulls-muslim-headscarf-ban-in-sport Fri, 04 Apr 2025 10:54:59 +0200 athletes-frustrated-as-france-mulls-muslim-headscarf-ban-in-sport France’s right-dominated Senate has backed a bill to ban religious symbols including the hijab in all sport competitions, professional and amateur, sparking accusations of discrimination from rights advocates. https://www.thelocal.fr/20250219/frances-senate-backs-move-to-ban-headscarf-in-sport Wed, 19 Feb 2025 16:03:28 +0100 frances-senate-backs-move-to-ban-headscarf-in-sport France's prime minister Saturday vowed to help investigate allegations of decades of sexual abuse at a Catholic school, after the left accused him of lying to parliament earlier this week when he said he was unaware of the case. https://www.thelocal.fr/20250216/france-pm-vows-to-help-probe-boarding-school-paedophilia-allegations Sun, 16 Feb 2025 11:57:03 +0100 france-pm-vows-to-help-probe-boarding-school-paedophilia-allegations French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo unveiled a special edition on Monday to mark 10 years since an attack on its offices by Islamist gunmen that decimated its staff. https://www.thelocal.fr/20250106/frances-charlie-hebdo-magazine-unveils-special-edition-10-years-since-attack Mon, 06 Jan 2025 09:52:37 +0100 frances-charlie-hebdo-magazine-unveils-special-edition-10-years-since-attack The Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich is to preside over Christmas Day mass at Notre-Dame de Paris on Wednesday morning, celebrating for the first time since the fire devastated the cathedral in 2019. https://www.thelocal.fr/20241225/paris-notre-dame-cathedral-celebrates-christmas-for-first-time-since-fire Wed, 25 Dec 2024 09:21:45 +0100 paris-notre-dame-cathedral-celebrates-christmas-for-first-time-since-fire Pope Francis completed a one-day trip to Corsica on Sunday marked by cheering crowds and good humour in the French Mediterranean island, a stronghold of the Catholic faith. https://www.thelocal.fr/20241216/francis-celebrates-mega-mass-in-first-ever-papal-visit-to-corsica Mon, 16 Dec 2024 10:00:52 +0100 francis-celebrates-mega-mass-in-first-ever-papal-visit-to-corsica The Choir School of Notre-Dame de Paris (Maîtrise) will give its first concerts in the rebuilt cathedral on Tuesday and Wednesday, performing "Magnificat" by Jean-Sébastien Bach, marking the start of a season of around 50 recitals. https://www.thelocal.fr/20241215/notre-dame-de-paris-choir-to-begin-concert-season-in-the-rebuilt-cathedral-on-tuesday Sun, 15 Dec 2024 12:27:16 +0100 notre-dame-de-paris-choir-to-begin-concert-season-in-the-rebuilt-cathedral-on-tuesday Pope Francis will visit Corsica, a stronghold of the Catholic faith, on Sunday, with locals hotly anticipating the first-ever trip by a pontiff to the French Mediterranean island. https://www.thelocal.fr/20241215/francis-makes-first-visit-by-a-pope-to-frances-corsica Sun, 15 Dec 2024 10:02:02 +0100 francis-makes-first-visit-by-a-pope-to-frances-corsica The Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes in the Hautes-Pyrénées region reopened to the public on Saturday after flooding earlier in the day caused it to close, the sanctuary said on its website. https://www.thelocal.fr/20240908/frances-lourdes-grotto-reopens-to-public-after-flash-flooding Sun, 08 Sep 2024 10:34:26 +0200 frances-lourdes-grotto-reopens-to-public-after-flash-flooding