Pope Leo XIV draws huge crowds in Paris as 600,000 await Mass

Paris Prepares for Vast Open-Air Mass as Pope Leo XIV Visits France

Poinews.com – Paris is preparing for one of the largest gatherings of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France, with almost 600,000 people expected to attend a Mass at Place de la Concorde on Saturday afternoon. The celebration is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. and follows a first day in the French capital marked by large crowds, youth events and meetings with local Catholic communities.

The Pope’s arrival on Friday brought an enthusiastic public welcome. The Vatican said that 300,000 people lined the streets and cheered as the pontiff travelled through Paris in the popemobile. The scenes highlighted the scale of public interest surrounding the visit, as residents, pilgrims and visitors gathered along the route to catch a glimpse of him.

Later that evening, attention shifted north of central Paris to the Stade de France in Saint-Denis. Around 80,000 young people took part in a vigil there, creating another major moment in the Pope’s programme. The event placed younger Catholics at the centre of the visit before Saturday’s much larger public liturgy in the heart of the capital.

A prayerful gathering in the centre of Paris

Place de la Concorde, one of Paris’s best-known public spaces, is set to become an enormous outdoor place of worship for the Mass. The expected attendance of nearly 600,000 reflects both the logistical scale of the event and the strong symbolic importance of holding it in such a prominent location.

For many participants, the gathering is not only a chance to see Pope Leo XIV, but also an opportunity for shared prayer at a time when international conflicts and humanitarian concerns remain close to the minds of worshippers.

I am very happy to be here today, to share this wonderful energy we all have together as we come to attend this spectacular mass. For us Maronites, Eastern Christians, it is even more powerful given the current situation. We are going to pray intensely for the Middle East.

Karine, a Parisian attending the Mass, described the significance of the occasion for Maronite and other Eastern Christian communities. Her comments reflect how a major papal event can bring together people with different backgrounds while providing a public setting for prayers linked to concerns beyond France’s borders.

Meetings with migrants and French Catholics

Before the Mass, Pope Leo XIV began Saturday morning at Maison Bakhita, a diocesan association that receives migrants. The visit allowed several people supported by the organisation, including Christians and Muslims, to meet him. The stop put migration and welcome services among the first themes of the day’s programme.

Maison Bakhita’s work concerns people arriving in France who may need support and a place of reception. By visiting the association, the Pope met individuals from more than one faith tradition, underlining the human focus of the encounter rather than limiting it to a single religious community.

The Pope then travelled to the Catholic Institute of Paris, where he welcomed the increase in the number of people receiving baptism in France. The observation drew attention to a development within the country’s Catholic life: people are continuing to enter the Church through baptism, a central rite that marks admission into the Christian faith.

For a papal visit, such meetings add a quieter dimension to the large public events. While the Paris procession, stadium vigil and Place de la Concorde Mass have drawn exceptional numbers, the morning engagements focused on personal encounters, migration support and the changing life of Catholic communities in France.

Next stop: Lourdes

At the end of Saturday, Pope Leo XIV is due to fly to Lourdes, where he will open the next stage of his stay with a prayer. The southwestern town is a major destination for Catholic pilgrims and is especially associated with devotion, prayer and visits by people seeking spiritual comfort.

The move from Paris to Lourdes will take the Pope’s programme from the capital’s monumental public spaces to one of France’s most important pilgrimage centres. Together, the two locations illustrate the broad character of the visit: major civic gatherings in Paris, encounters with local communities, and prayer in a place deeply connected to Catholic pilgrimage.

Saturday’s Mass will remain the central public moment of the Paris leg of the journey. With hundreds of thousands of worshippers expected, the event will bring the first phase of Pope Leo XIV’s French visit to a dramatic close before his arrival in Lourdes.