A human tide of faithful. According to the Vatican, 800,000 people attended the giant mass organized on the Place de la Concorde on Saturday September 26. In his homily delivered in French, Pope Leo XIV greeted the youth who are, according to him, "the church of today". The outdoor mass, which lasted an hour and a half, was in honor of the Virgin Mary. The sovereign pontiff will now leave Paris and head for Lourdes, which he will return by plane.
Several political figures were seen in the audience at Place de la Concorde. Among them, Brigitte Macron, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet. National Rally deputies are also there. Among them, Marine Le Pen, Jordan Bardella and Sébastien Chenu.
It was 2 p.m. when the popemobile began a procession along the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, from the Arc de Triomphe. Acclaimed by a human tide of faithful, Leo XIV greeted the crowd and blessed babies carried to him by volunteers.
In the morning, Leo On this occasion, he pleaded for “living together in dignity and peace”.
The sovereign pontiff will leave the capital at the end of the day, heading towards Lourdes (Hautes-Pyrénées), via the special plane made available to him by the company Air France. He will have time to pray in the grotto of the city sanctuary, where the 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous are said to have occurred in 1858.
The mass organized on the Place de la Concorde brought together around 800,000 people, according to a new estimate sent by the Vatican. This is more than the 260,000 faithful who welcomed Benedict XVI in 2008 at the Invalides, but less than the million present with John Paul II in 1997 at the Longchamp racecourse for World Youth Day.
Catholics from the Laudato Si movement, who campaign for “climate and ecological justice”, are present at the Parisian rally organized for the climate. On their stand, this question signed by Leo XIV in 2025 is displayed: "God will ask us if we have cultivated and taken care of the world he created... What will be our answer?"
For her first campaign meeting in Paris, Lutte Ouvrière candidate Nathalie Arthaud unveiled a program described as a “combat plan” against “the capitalist class”. In allusion to the news of the day, a leader of the far-left party opened the meeting in front of a thousand activists with this humorous touch: "This meeting is placed under the aegis of Leo. But not of Pope Leo XIV, of Leon Trotsky."
While right-wing and far-right political leaders showed up at the giant mass given by the pope, others on the left, like the socialist Olivier Faure, are trying in their own way to point out their "contradictions" by evoking the message of the sovereign pontiff.
Concerning the question of secularism, the Conference of Bishops of France wished to recall that this giant mass was the subject of a declaration at the prefecture, like any demonstration authorized in public space. An association for the defense of child victims of sexual violence, particularly in the Church, had tried, in vain, to have it banned, and some political voices were raised to question this place given to religion in the public space, such as the related environmentalist deputy Alexis Corbière.
End clap for the giant mass organized on the Champs-Elysées, where Léon XIV leaves the scene on foot, treading the cobblestones of the Place de la Concorde. He is now expected at Orly airport to take off in about an hour towards Lourdes.
The issue of sexual assault and rape in the church will be addressed tomorrow afternoon in Lourdes during a private meeting with victims of sexual violence in the Church. We will perhaps not count on Leo XIV to expand publicly on the content of this exchange, but some participants have already planned to speak at a press conference afterwards.
Leo XIV broke a wafer and took a sip of wine. For practical reasons, it is obviously not the Pope who will distribute it to the faithful. Priests are placed all along the Avenue des Champs-Elysées to participate in this moment.
