During his weekend visit to France, Pope Leo XIV celebrated an outdoor Mass at Paris’s Place de la Concorde on Saturday, where 700,000 people gathered, then flew to Lourdes and prayed at the Grotto of the Apparitions.
BFMTV reported that the Paris celebration included 2,400 priests and deacons, 100 bishops, 1,000 choir singers and 400 altar servers. In his homily, Leo said Jesus brings peace to restless hearts and praised young people as “the Church of today.”
In his prayer at Lourdes, Leo asked Mary to obtain wise, generous leaders for France who would serve the common good. On Sunday, he is scheduled to celebrate another large outdoor Mass in Lourdes and meet victims of sexual violence.
