Pope Leo XIV opened his four-day visit to France on Friday with a speech on artificial intelligence at the Élysée Palace, warning against losing humanity amid machines he described as invading and conditioning daily life. He called for training in ethical discernment.
A Paris mass was expected to draw about 600,000 people, and police sealed a large area around the Champs-Élysées ahead of it. Leo was also due to visit refurbished Notre-Dame and meet 80,000 young people at Stade de France on Friday; Sunday’s mass in Lourdes was expected to draw 150,000.
Leo was also due to meet migrants in Paris and survivors of church sexual abuse in Lourdes. President Emmanuel Macron, who met him at Orly airport and the Élysée, will not attend any of Leo’s masses because he wants to keep church and state separate. Brigitte Macron planned to attend the Paris mass with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
