Tens of thousands gathered in central Paris on Saturday for Pope Leo XIV’s Mass at Place de la Concorde; about 600,000 people had registered for the afternoon service. Long queues formed hours before it was due to begin.
Earlier Saturday, Leo visited a social centre and met adults who had recently been baptized, urging them to remain steadfast in their Christian faith and share it. The French Bishops’ Conference said 13,000 adults were baptized in France this year, three times the number a decade ago; infant baptisms have more than halved since 2000.
Areas around the Champs-Élysées and across the Seine were cordoned off for security. On Friday, Leo met President Emmanuel Macron, praised France as a country of human rights, and criticized a new law permitting euthanasia and constitutional protection for abortion rights. Macron does not plan to attend any of the pope’s Masses. Leo was due to visit Lourdes later Saturday and make his final stop in Metz on Monday, where he was scheduled to give a speech on Europe.
