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Pope Leo XIV drew an estimated 800,000 people into the heart of Paris on Saturday for a massive open-air Mass, filling one of the French republic’s most storied public squares as he urged Catholics to openly share their faith in an “increasingly secularized society.”
Flag-waving crowds packed the Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde as the American pope traveled roughly 1.2 miles through central Paris in the popemobile before celebrating Mass.
The Vatican estimated attendance at 800,000, roughly 200,000 more people than had registered in advance.
People of faith gathered in the streets, with families lifting babies and young children toward the popemobile as Leo made his way through the French capital.
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“Seeing you gathered here,” Leo told worshippers, he was looking upon the “heirs of France’s long and beautiful history of faith,” according to Vatican News.
The pope called on French Catholics not to keep that rich inheritance to themselves.
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“Let it overflow, so that those you meet may be refreshed and their thirst satisfied,” Leo said. “From this beautiful city of Paris, I pray fervently that the living water of the Holy Spirit may flow throughout France.”
The setting carried particular resonance in a country known for its strict tradition of secularism.
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It is notable that the Place de la Concorde was an execution ground during the French Revolution, where devoutly Catholic King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were guillotined. Today, the square is closely associated with the French republic and regularly hosts Bastille Day celebrations.
The decision to celebrate a papal Mass there drew criticism from supporters of France’s strict separation of church and state, who argued another site would have been more appropriate.
The images also offered a striking contrast with another massive Paris spectacle just two years earlier.
The 2024 Summer Olympics opening ceremony drew worldwide controversy over a tableau featuring drag performers that Christian leaders and other critics said mocked Christianity.
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The French Bishops’ Conference said at the time that the ceremony “included scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity,” adding that Christians around the world had been “hurt by the outrageousness and provocation of certain scenes.”
The tableau was widely interpreted by critics as a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” though Olympics organizers disputed that interpretation.
Leo’s visit comes as France experiences a notable increase in adult conversions even as the country continues a decades-long decline in overall Catholic participation.
Annual adult baptisms in France have tripled since 2016, reaching 13,000 this year, according to The Associated Press. Overall baptisms, however, have fallen sharply over the longer term, from 513,000 in 1980 to 186,000 in 2024.
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Leo thanked French families, young people, catechumens and new Christians for bearing witness to their faith in what he described as an “increasingly secularized society,” according to Vatican News.
The scale of the pope’s reception was already apparent the night before the Mass as some 80,000 young people packed France’s national stadium Friday for a vigil featuring fireworks and a theatrical retelling of the country’s Catholic history.
“Thank you for your courage! Thank you for your presence,” Leo told them in French. “Thank you for your faith. You are the saints of France!”
At Saturday’s Mass, Leo invoked France’s Catholic heritage and drew on the biblical image of “living water,” telling worshippers that Jesus Christ could satisfy humanity’s desire for “life, truth, unity, peace, communion, and happiness.”
He also invoked French Catholic saints including Irenaeus, Martin and Francis de Sales while praising those who continue to work for “life, the family, truth, peace, fraternity and justice.”
The sea of people rivaled some of the largest public celebrations to fill the Champs-Élysées in recent decades, including France’s World Cup victories in 1998 and 2018, according to the AP.
Leo’s four-day trip to France began Friday with a visit to the restored Notre Dame Cathedral, the first by a pope since the devastating 2019 fire.
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He traveled Saturday night to Lourdes, one of the Catholic Church’s most visited pilgrimage sites.
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