Leo XIV Grants a Private Audience to Europe’s Richest Man: Here Are the Photos

(ZENIT News / Castel Gandolfo, 08.27.2026).- Days before Pope Leo XIV is due to arrive in France, he received one of the country’s most influential business figures in a private audience.

Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH and one of Europe’s wealthiest men, met the Pope with members of his family on August 25 at the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo. Arnault later described the encounter as a blessing and shared photographs of the meeting publicly.

The timing was particularly striking. The audience came as preparations intensified for Leo XIV’s September 25-28 visit to France, and on the same day that Vanity Fair placed the Pope among the world’s best-dressed personalities. But beyond the unusual convergence of papal and fashion headlines, Arnault has a more direct connection with one of the most important symbols awaiting Leo in Paris: Notre-Dame Cathedral.

Following the devastating fire of April 2019, Arnault and his family pledged €200 million toward the cathedral’s reconstruction. The commitment made the French luxury magnate one of the most prominent private supporters of the restoration of a building that is simultaneously a Catholic place of worship and one of France’s defining cultural landmarks. That dual identity is central to Notre-Dame’s story.

For Catholics, the cathedral is a living church, a place of prayer and the celebration of the faith. For France and the wider world, it is also a monument whose history is intertwined with the country’s architecture, art and collective memory. Its reconstruction therefore became something larger than the restoration of a damaged building.

Arnault himself emphasized that symbolism after meeting Leo XIV, describing Notre-Dame as a symbol of faith and French genius, built over centuries and restored within only a few years. The Pope will encounter that history in person.

During his September visit, Leo XIV is scheduled to pray at Notre-Dame, marking the first papal visit to the cathedral since the 2019 fire. His journey will also take him to Lourdes and Metz, combining major pastoral events with institutional and diplomatic encounters.

The meeting with Arnault consequently offers an intriguing prelude to the French trip. The Pope and the businessman come from profoundly different spheres, yet Notre-Dame provides common ground: the preservation of a Christian monument whose meaning extends well beyond the boundaries of the Catholic community.

It also highlights the increasingly complex relationship between religious heritage and private philanthropy.

The restoration of Notre-Dame required enormous resources, expertise and public coordination. Arnault’s €200 million pledge demonstrated how wealthy private donors could play a major role in recovering a national monument after catastrophe. At the same time, the cathedral’s religious purpose remained inseparable from the cultural importance that made its restoration a global cause.

Arnault, 77, heads LVMH, the Paris-based luxury conglomerate created almost four decades ago through the merger of Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy. The group has since grown into a vast portfolio encompassing fashion, perfumes, jewelry and other luxury businesses, including Christian Dior, Fendi, Guerlain and Tiffany & Co., as well as Dom Pérignon.

That background makes the encounter with Leo XIV particularly noteworthy at a moment when the Pope himself has unexpectedly entered the vocabulary of the fashion world.

Vanity Fair included Leo in its 2026 best-dressed list, placing him in its “Originals” category for his distinctive combination of traditional clerical clothing and contemporary touches. In December 2025, Vogue had already selected him among its 55 best-dressed people of the year.

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