Packing for a pope: Behind the scenes on foreign trips

Papal trips mean vast crowds, high-level diplomatic meetings and a formidable amount of behind-the-scenes preparation, from delicately balanced agendas to complex security protection for the head of the Catholic Church. Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France from September 25 to 28, which includes events at the Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Champs-Elysees, will involve some 15,000 members of the security forces. The groundwork for this visit — the first papal trip to Paris since 2008 —