About 800,000 people gathered along Paris’ Champs-Élysées on Saturday as Pope Leo celebrated an outdoor Mass during his four-day visit to France.
The huge crowd stretched along the roughly two-kilometre route between the Place de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe, with many arriving hours before the afternoon service.
Cheers and chants of “Leo, Leo” and “Long live the Pope” filled the avenue as the pontiff travelled through the crowd in an open-top popemobile.
The vehicle stopped several times as Leo waved to worshippers and blessed children, babies and people with disabilities who were brought forward by volunteers.
Vatican flags were raised throughout the crowd as Catholics gathered for what became the largest event of the Pope’s French tour.
Among those present were Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu and billionaire businessman Bernard Arnault.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen also attended the Mass as Leo continued his four-day, three-city tour of France.
During his sermon, the Pope encouraged Catholics to seek fulfilment through faith rather than material possessions.
“Only God can fill the emptiness within us,” Leo told the congregation.
Benoit Dedieu-Anglade, 67, said he was moved by the Pope’s message and his delivery in French.
“We must not give in to the easy path or distractions,” Dedieu-Anglade said after the Mass.
Leo’s visit has focused not only on religious faith but also on wider questions affecting society and the international community.
On Friday, he warned at the Paris headquarters of UNESCO that the United Nations and other multilateral institutions were facing a crisis.
He also renewed his concerns about the rapid development of artificial intelligence, warning that it could eventually produce what he called a “paradise of machines” controlling the Earth.
The Pope has repeatedly called for peace and has spoken against the direction of global leadership in recent months.
His comments on the war involving Iran earlier this year also drew a public response from US President Donald Trump.
Pierre-Marie Estienne, 36, attended Saturday’s Mass with his wife and their four children.
“We live in an era of great materialism,” Estienne said before the Pope arrived, adding that people needed a message of hope and love.
France remains a largely secular country, with the separation of church and state formally established by law in 1905.
Catholic affiliation has declined steadily since the Second World War, following a wider trend across several traditionally Catholic countries.
However, the French Bishops’ Conference has reported an increase in the number of adults seeking baptism, including about 21,000 during Easter this year.
Figures from France’s official statistics agency, INSEE, show that 25% of people aged 18 to 49 identified as Catholic, compared with 43% a decade earlier.
During a meeting with newly baptised Catholics at the Catholic University of Paris before the Mass, Leo urged the French Church not to become overly confident about the recent increase.
He called on Catholics to protect and support new believers as they begin their religious journey.
Leo later travelled to Lourdes, home to one of the Catholic Church’s best-known shrines, where he is scheduled to meet seven French victims of clergy abuse on Sunday.
Leave a comment