Emmanuel Macron, who will meet Pope Francis on Monday, October 24, the second day of his visit to Italy, will attend the opening of the annual peace summit of the Community of Sant'Egidio.
He will be alongside the Italian presidents, Sergio Mattarella, and Nigerien, Mohamed Bazoum.
The French president will also seek to avoid Giorgia Meloni and far-right Italian leaders, who lead the new Italian government.
The gathering, which will also be attended by France's chief rabbi, Haïm Korsia, will be the latest in a series of meetings between the French head of state and leaders of the Catholic charity organization, sometimes dubbed the "United Nations of Trastevere" - named after a district of Rome - for his efforts to appease conflicts around the world.
As he announced the program for the event earlier this month, Marco Impagliazzo, the head of Sant'Egidio, hailed Emmanuel Macron's views on European cooperation and relations with Africa .
He also defended the French president's decision to maintain a dialogue with Moscow as the war in Ukraine rages on.
France 24 spoke with Odon Vallet, historian of religions, about Emmanuel Macron's affinities with the Community of Sant'Egidio and the importance of his trip to Rome, where the right-wing coalition led by the Fratelli party d'Italia, with neo-fascist roots, has just formed a new government.
France 24: How to explain the affinity between the French president and the Community of Sant'Egidio
?
Odon Vallet:
This community was created in 1968 in Rome.
It was the year in which Catholic communities were created with the aim of allying the Church with progressive forces, while fighting against the sixty-eight atheists: in the United States, opponents of the war in Vietnam, in France , those who participated in the events of May-68.
In Italy, there were fears of dechristianization.
Sant'Egidio is a bit like Abbé Pierre: the community is present in all philanthropy, charity, the fight for peace.
She would certainly deserve the Nobel Peace Prize even if she is not successful everywhere, far from it.
Which can only encourage the French president to have good relations with her and also with Pope Francis, who is probably living his last months.
But Sant'Egidio, that also says something to the French.
You should know that, for a few months, they have been the leaders of the parish of Saint-Merry, in the center of Paris.
And today, a number of bills and themes, such as euthanasia and abortion, are shocking some French people and some not at all.
French Catholics are divided on these issues.
Let's not forget that when Emmanuel Macron was elected, he went very quickly to the Collège des Bernardins.
There was euphoria among French Catholics, and then, a few months later, the euphoria subsided.
There were lots of conflicts.
A community like Sant'Egidio, these are people who are going quite well in the direction of what Emmanuel Macron wants.
Let's add one last point: they are very present on the five continents but especially in Africa.
Now, as you know, today France is sometimes frowned upon in Africa.
How can Sant'Egidio help France in Africa
?
There is an anti-French feeling in Africa, not shared by everyone, but which is still very present.
I who am very much in Benin, I can tell you that it is a huge problem for the French Republic.
Especially since (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is doing everything he can to embarrass France in Africa with the Wagner commandos.
I think Emmanuel Macron says to himself, basically: 'I'm a bit in Africa with Sant'Egidio, it's the opposite of Wagner and Wagner is making miseries for France'.
In short, having relations with a community that in the past would have been called left-wing Catholic, and which is not at all unfavorable to France, is a positive step for the Head of State, given that Emmanuel Macron needs to break relations between the hard right and the extreme right, and also to have relations with people who are very present in Africa.
Emmanuel Macron was close to the outgoing head of government, Mario Draghi. Why not take the opportunity to meet his successor, Giorgia Meloni
?
Emmanuel Macron does not want to meet the next Italian leaders since, since the recent election, there is a whole team that is hard right, even extreme right.
However, Emmanuel Macron's fear is that when he sees a head of government who is totally incompatible with what he wants for France, he will be told 'Well, why not have an Eric Zemmour and a Marine Le Pen with possibly some leaders of the Republicans?'.
This mixture of hard right and extreme right would be the worst.
On the other hand, he is quite interested in the Vatican for at least two reasons.
The first is that Pope Francis is not eternal, that he is someone he feels quite close to.
And then there is Sant'Egidio.
The community of Sant'Egidio is very active in helping migrants. Are they on the same wavelength with Macron
?
Migrants are crucial because Italy is the country that has received the most migrants from Africa, and because the question of their reception is a real problem in France as well.
Today, there is the dreadful context of the Lola affair, but above all there are sometimes irregular migrants who are perfectly peaceful and without whom our society would not function.
The percentage of Catholics, often practicing, who voted for Marine le Pen is equal to the French proportion.
That is to say that a quarter of Catholics vote for the far right, and that bothers Macron a lot.
Because that would mean that somewhere, there is a real risk of seeing Catholic leaders, including the episcopate, not rallying to the extreme right, but no longer being totally opposed to it with clarity, for example , of a Pope Francis.
What the president wants to say about immigration is that France is a welcoming country, but not under any conditions.
Emmanuel Macron is concerned not to leave France in the hands of the far right since this is his second and last term.
He said to himself: 'I would like to leave a friendly atmosphere between those who live in France, whether they are French or not'.
And for that, he needs to reconnect with something universal – this is the meaning of the word 'Catholic' – in the field of cordial relations.
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