Three days before departing on the apostolic journey to France (September 25-28), Vatican News publishes reports from the French capital ahead of the Pope's visit to UNESCO headquarters and his meeting with young people. One report gathers the testimony of Pierre-Alexis Le Marchand, a volunteer with the Pierre Vivantes community of Saint-Denis, who describes the spiritual preparation of young people around the stained-glass windows of Saint-Denis Cathedral: "We are united because we have one foundation: Christ. Everything stems from this." A second report gathers the words of the Apostolic Nuncio to France, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, who notes the great interest sparked by the papal visit, the mobilization of 17,000 volunteers, and a renewed religious interest in France, with a significant increase in adults and teenagers requesting Baptism. The Pope will speak at UNESCO following in the footsteps of John Paul II and will address themes of culture, education, and peace in the European context at Metz. Presenting the journey, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, described it as an encounter with "French society, its people, its culture, its history", together with the country's faith community. Almost 600,000 people have already registered for the Mass at Place de la Concorde on Saturday, September 26, while around 80,000 have registered for the vigil with young people at the Stade de France. The moment of greatest spiritual intensity of the journey will be the private, closed-door meeting in Lourdes on Sunday with seven victims of abuse and violence within the Church. The Pope will speak at UNESCO on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the Organization, to be celebrated in 2027: the address will be partly in French and partly in English, while the Metz meeting will be held entirely in English, with all other remarks in French. Accompanying the Pope in the delegation are Cardinals José Tolentino de Mendonça, Dominique Mamberti, George Koovakad, and Archbishop Filippo Iannone; Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will instead be at the UN in New York.