Pope Leo XIV is due to celebrate an outdoor Mass at Paris’s Place de la Concorde at 3 p.m. Saturday, with nearly 600,000 worshippers expected. The Vatican said 300,000 people cheered as he passed through Paris in his popemobile Friday; 80,000 young people attended a vigil.
Earlier on Saturday, Leo visited Maison Bakhita, a diocesan association that welcomes migrants, where several Christian and Muslim migrants met him. At the Catholic Institute of Paris, he welcomed the rise in baptisms in France.
Karine, a Parisian attendee, told Euronews the Mass was especially powerful for Maronites given the current situation and that they would pray intensely for the Middle East. Leo was due to fly to Lourdes later Saturday and begin his stay with a prayer.
