Pope Leo XIV celebrated an open-air Mass in central Paris on Saturday before a crowd the Vatican estimated at 800,000 people, the centerpiece of his first official visit to France as pontiff and one of the largest religious gatherings the French capital has seen in decades.
Crowds packed the Place de la Concorde and stretched along the nearly two-kilometer length of the Champs-Élysées, from the square to the Arc de Triomphe, well before the mid-afternoon service began. The Vatican’s estimated turnout exceeded by roughly 200,000 the number of attendees who had registered in advance. The pope traveled the route in an open-topped popemobile, blessing children and waving to spectators pressed against security barriers along the way.
In his address, Leo urged French Catholics to practice their faith openly rather than privately, describing France’s gathered worshippers as heirs to the country’s long religious history, and encouraged attendees to seek fulfillment in faith rather than material pursuits, according to remarks carried by Vatican News.
The Mass followed a vigil Friday night at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, where an estimated 80,000 young people attended an evening program that included fireworks and a theatrical presentation on French Catholic history. Earlier in the visit, Leo met with newly baptized Catholics at the Catholic University of Paris and cautioned French church leaders against what he characterized as naive optimism over a recent rise in adult conversions. Adult baptisms in France have nearly tripled since 2016, reaching approximately 13,000 this year, according to figures reported by the Associated Press, even as overall baptisms have declined sharply over the longer term, from 513,000 in 1980 to 186,000 in 2024.
Leo also delivered remarks earlier in the week at the Paris headquarters of UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural and educational agency, warning that the UN and other multilateral institutions face a period of crisis.
The pope’s four-day visit to France, running from September 25 to 28, continues with stops in Lourdes, home to a major Catholic pilgrimage shrine, and the city of Metz.
