Hundreds of thousands welcomed Pope Leo XIV along Paris’s Champs-Élysées on Saturday, ahead of an open-air Mass expected to draw more than 500,000 at Place de la Concorde. Riding in his popemobile, he waved to crowds and blessed several babies.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who met Leo for an hour on Friday, will not attend any Mass during the Pope’s four-day visit, largely to avoid breaching France’s strict separation of state and religion. Macron’s wife, Brigitte, and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu are due at the Mass; several presidential candidates are also expected.
Earlier on Saturday, Leo met migrants at the Maison Bakhita refugee-support centre and praised its work. On Friday, he warned Church and state officials about the dangers of artificial intelligence, saying people must not lose their humanity amid a “paradise of machines”.
