It has been confirmed that the next European meeting held by the Taizé community will take place in Paris and throughout the Île-de-France region from 28 December 2025 to 1 January 2026.
The annual gatherings that are organised by the famous monastic order typically occur from December 28 to January 1 each year. They are dedicated to prayer, workshops, discussions and cultural exchange, concluding with a prayer for peace and a celebration to welcome the New Year, and can attract tens of thousands of participants and pilgrims.
The announcement about Paris hosting the next Taizé gathering was made by Brother Matthew, prior of the ecumenical community that is located a few miles from Cluny in the Burgundy region of France, on 30 December 2024 in Tallinn, Estonia, where the most recent European meeting took place.
The Paris meeting is being organised at the invitation of Archbishop Laurent Ulrich of Paris, along with all the Catholic bishops of the Paris province, as well as Protestant and Orthodox leaders of the region. The Archbishop was present at the gathering in Tallinn, and following the announcement about Paris he addressed the crowds of young people gathered, saying, “Notre Dame will welcome you".
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The Taizé gatherings began in 1978, with the first meeting held in Paris as part of a "pilgrimage of trust on earth", in the words of the community. Since then, the gatherings have brought together thousands of young people. The last time the meeting was held in Paris, during 2002, approximately 80,000 young people from around the world attended.
In preparation for the Paris meeting, the Taizé brothers have been engaging with local government and civil authorities, including the mayoral offices of Paris and the Île-de-France region, whose support will be crucial to the event's success, says the community.
The Taizé community was founded by Swiss-born Protestant Roger Schütz after the Second World War. Brother Matthew, an Englishman and an Anglican who had been a member of the community since 1986, took over as prior at the end of 2023.
The monastic order includes more than 80 brothers from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds, who welcome people, especially the young, to visit the community throughout the year.
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<em>Photo: People pose in front of Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral ahead of the traditional Christmas Mass held in the cathedral for the first time since the fire in 2019, Paris, France, 24 December 2024. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images.)</em>
<em>For more information about the Taizé community and updates on how to participate in the Paris European meeting at the end of 2025, visit the community's <a href="https://www.taize.fr/en"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">website</mark></a>.</em>
