Pope Leo XIV visits Paris: Hundreds of thousands expected at church service

Hundreds of thousands of people cheered Pope Leo XIV as he drove through the center of Paris. The Pope covered the approximately two-kilometer route along the Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde in the Popemobile and waved to people on the side of the road. Chants of “Leo, Leo” could be heard again and again.

In the afternoon, Leo XIV celebrated a church service on the Place de la Concorde. The mass is the highlight of his first visit to France and also the first visit by a pope to the country in 18 years. More than 600,000 people have registered to take part.

In the morning the Pope had a facility for migrants. There he called for refugees and other immigrants to be treated with dignity. People must "see those who are invisible and free those who are forced into slavery by the economic situation," he said at the Bakhita House, set up by the Diocese of Paris.

Leo XIV then met at the Institut Catholique with young adults who had recently been baptized or were preparing to be baptized. He called for these people to be accompanied and integrated into the church community.