Pope Leo XIV draws 800,000 worshippers in historic Paris mass on Champs Elysees

Paris: Pope Leo XIV on Saturday celebrated an open-air mass in front of hundreds of thousands of faithful in Paris after riding in the popemobile along the iconic Champs Elysees to the cheers of huge crowds clutching French and Vatican flags.

The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics is on a four-day trip to France, a secular country with deep Catholic roots, on the first official papal visit to France in nearly two decades.

In the highlight of the visit's second day, the 71-year-old pope led believers in a mass at Place de la Concorde, where a giant white canopy had been erected to serve as a makeshift altar. Dozens of screens were installed to allow worshippers to follow the hour-and-a-half-long service.

The trip stirred visible enthusiasm and spiritual fervour among the faithful. The pope's prayers were accompanied by choral and organ music as the sun broke through the grey skies.

"It is truly good and pleasant when brothers and sisters come together and glorify the greatness of God," said Pope Leo, dressed in white liturgical vestments.

Over a stretch of more than two kilometres, some 800,000 people had gathered all the way beyond the Arc de Triomphe, the Vatican said. The city centre was sealed off for the service, with helicopters circling overhead and snipers positioned on rooftops. 

"It's one time in history to see the pope," said Aline Riziki, 41, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and who has lived in France for 11 years.

"I dropped everything to come here and see him, to pray for peace in the east" of her homeland, wracked by conflict for decades, she said.

Some people sitting on the pavement hugged their knees and dropped their heads in concentration as they listened to the pope's voice echo across the Champs Elysees. 

Parents arrived with pushchairs and held children on their shoulders as crowds hoped to catch a glimpse of the pontiff.

'Important moment'

Jeanne de Montagnac, 29, came with her husband and two-year-old girl, who was perched on his shoulders.

"We're happy that, even if she won't remember it, we're sharing this with her," she said, a small golden cross dangling over her jumper.

"It's an important moment for us to be surrounded by other people who also have faith."

The first US pontiff was visiting France seven months before voters choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, with the anti-immigration far right eyeing its best opportunity yet to capture the presidency.

A number of presidential hopefuls were present, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Edouard Philippe.

President Emmanuel Macron did not attend the mass but was represented by his wife Brigitte.

"We're incredibly lucky," Suzanne Grange, 62, said ahead of the service.

"We were already lucky enough to see Pope John Paul II in Paris back in 1980," added her husband Pascal, 65.

'Dignity and peace'

Earlier in the day, the pope met migrants at Maison Bakhita, an association supporting refugees. Leo said it was "possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace".

He also stressed the "fundamental role of women in building a civilisation of love".

The association said the pope's visit sent a "message" ahead of the April-May election.

On Friday, an estimated 300,000 people turned out to see the pontiff as he waved from his popemobile on the way to the Notre Dame Cathedral.

"There is a sense of fervour reminiscent of that experienced over 40 years ago with John Paul II," Francois Mabille, director of the Geopolitical Observatory on Religion, told broadcaster RMC.

On Friday, Pope Leo stressed the need for ethics to avoid an AI-driven "paradise of machines" and, as war rages in Ukraine for a fifth year, urged France to remain a "tireless champion of peace". 

He also told young adults at a stadium outside Paris on Friday night that they were the "saints of France".

Later Saturday Pope Leo will head to Lourdes, a southwestern town where, according to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in a grotto in 1858 to a peasant girl.

On Sunday, he will speak with seven victims of clerical sex abuse.

A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France, over seven decades. 

For the last leg of his trip, in Metz on Monday, Leo is set to deliver a speech about peace in Europe.