An estimated 700,000 people took over the Champs-Élysées avenue and the Place de la Concorde public square in the heart of Paris on Saturday to see Pope Leo XIV celebrate an open-air Mass, the biggest event of his four-day visit to France – his first official papal trip to the country. Before the service, the 71-year-old leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics rode down the avenue in his open-top "popemobile" and waved to crowds pressed tightly against security barriers. Phones in hands raised as high as possible as onlookers tried to catch a lasting glimpse of this fleeting but historic moment.
Leo XIV stopped often, blessing babies passed forward by volunteers as well as people with disabilities in the front ranks of the crowd, before he eventually took to the stage at Place de la Concorde under a giant white canopy. Read moreLive: Vatican estimates 700,000 people gathered for Pope Leo's Mass in central Paris A choir and organ music accompanied a song of prayer as the sun broke through the grey skies. Dressed in white garments embellished with olive branches, Leo XIV urged Catholics to seek happiness in faith rather than material things.
Volunteers donning yellow t-shirts help lost onlookers find their way in the maze of the crowd. © Cyrielle Cabot, FRANCE 24 “Seeing the Pope in France is a once-in-a-lifetime event. So when I received an email asking me to volunteer for his visit, I said yes straight away,” says Angèle, a member of the French Scouts organisation since childhood. Having arrived on Friday from Rouen in Normandy, her role is to hand out French and Vatican flags.
She also helps lost onlookers orient themselves in the maze of the crowd and many road closures. While Angèle admits being disappointed not to have volunteered at the Stade de France Friday night, where Leo XIV held a vigil for young people, she thinks that the Mass will “bring people together” and “do us good”. Next to her, Frédéric, aged 60, is also wearing the volunteers’ fluorescent yellow T-shirt.
It’s a perfect opportunity to be of service and put the Church’s values into practice.” “I was in Marseille for the pope’s last visit to France,” he recalls. It was less formal.” Marie Madeleine and Marie Élisabeth, two nuns from France's Burgundy region, attend Pope Leo XIV's mass in Paris. © Lara Bullens, FRANCE 24 Marie-Madeleine, 45, and Marie-Élisabeth, 44, are both nuns from Autun in France’s Burgundy region. France is a place where power and money reign supreme, there is not enough openness between people here.
I really hope that Leo XIV’s visit can bring meaning and positivity to those who are stuck in that mindset,” Marie-Madeleine chimes in. Both would like to thank the pope for his courage to “go against the grain” and insist on the importance of “staying human” in a world they see as “disconnected”. US-born Emmanuelle came to celebrate Leo XIV's visit with her two daughters. © Cyrielle Cabot, FRANCE 24 Emmanuelle, aged 36, came with her two daughters, Olivia and Margaux, aged 8 and 9.
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