On the second day of the apostolic journey to France, the Pontiff visits the Maison Bakhita Center for Accompaniment and Social Integration in Paris and celebrates mass in the Place de la Concorde. In the afternoon he moves to Lourdes, where in the evening prayer is scheduled at the cave of the apparitions of Massabielle
The visit of Pope Leo XIV to France, after the first day in Paris, continues with other commitments in the capital and the transfer, in the afternoon, to Lourdes. Yesterday the Pontiff, after arriving at Orly airport, moved to the Elysée together with French President Emmanuel Macron and delivered his first speech to the country's authorities. Then in the afternoon there was a visit to UNESCO and the celebration of vespers in the Notre-Dame Cathedral, with Leo who was the first Pontiff to see the church restored after the 2019 fire. Finally, the Pope closed the day at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, with a prayer vigil with 80 thousand young people.
The Pope in the migrant reception center
The Pontiff's first commitment of the day is a visit to the Maison Bakhita Accompaniment and Social Integration Centre. It is a reception center for migrants launched in 2018 by the Archdiocese of Paris, in response to Pope Francis' 2017 appeal to "welcome, protect, promote and integrate" every migrant. Located in the 18th arrondissement of the French capital, the Center is named after Saint Josephine Bakhita, the Sudanese religious symbol of the fight against slavery. The Pope invited us to "recognize the fundamental role of women in building a civilization of love, an alternative to the culture that disintegrates communities and makes cities sick with loneliness". And he said: "The history of the Church and of humanity, upon closer inspection, is not written by those who seem to win, imposing themselves and occupying space, but by those who 'make space', initiate peace processes, generate trust and encourage life".
The program of the day
This was followed by a meeting with the members of the Provincial Synodal Assembly, the catechumens and the neophytes at the Catholic Institute of Paris. At 3pm there will be mass in the "Place de la Concorde", then at around 5.45pm the departure from Paris/Orly International Airport towards Lourdes, where the Pope will land at around 7pm. Finally, at 7.40 pm, prayer is scheduled at the cave of the apparitions of Massabielle at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Around 600,000 registered for mass on the Place de la Concorde
In recent days, the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, announced that almost 600 thousand people have registered for the mass that Pope Leo Faced with this level of turnout, Ulrich explained, "the diocese of Paris is organizing a compensation area in the Place de l'Etoile (officially Place Charles-de-Gaulle, ed.) and on the Avenue de la Grande Armée". An area expanded compared to what was initially planned only between Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysées.
Sarkozy will also participate in the Pope's mass on the Champs-Elysées
Even the former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has made it known that he will participate in the mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV between the Place de la Concorde and the avenue des Champs-Elysées. "I am Christian by birth", but also "Christian by culture" and "Christian by faith", declared the former president interviewed by CNews. "There are three reasons - he explained - to be present at the Pope's mass". Asked what he would do if he were still president, Sarkozy replied that he would participate without delay. As for the choice of the current president, Emmanuel Macron, not to go, Sarkozy does not criticize a decision considered ''very personal'', but contests, more generally, the idea that secularism requires a president to abstain. "There are those who say 'in the name of secularism you shouldn't go': it doesn't make any sense. Secularism is not a prohibition. Secularism is a right. The right to believe or not to believe."
