Hundreds of thousands of believers gathered today in the center of Paris for the great mass of Pope Leo XIV, with official figures indicating that about 700,000 people registered to participate in the afternoon service on the Place de la Concorde, DPA reported, BTA reported.
To the thunderous cheers of the huge crowd, Leo XIV drove along the Champs-Élysées in the popemobile. Among those in attendance were some prominent French politicians, including Prime Minister Sébastien Le Corneille and far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who hopes to become president next year.
Many of those in attendance filled the time before the service with choral singing, and some wore French national football team shirts emblazoned with the words "Pope Leo" and the number 14 - a playful reference to the pope's name.
Benedict XVI was the last pope to visit Paris, in 2008.
Large areas around the Champs-Élysées and along the Seine River were cordoned off today for security reasons. Earlier, Pope Leo XIV visited a social assistance center for migrants and then met with people who had recently been baptized. He urged them to remain steadfast in their faith and to spread it among others.
Later today, Leo XIV will travel to Lourdes, a pilgrimage site in southwestern France. According to tradition, in 1858 the Virgin Mary appeared there to the then 14-year-old local girl Bernadette Soubirous, the daughter of a poor miller.
At the beginning of his visit to France yesterday, the pope was received by President Emmanuel Macron.
During the meeting, Leo XIV paid tribute to France as a country that defends human rights, but at the same time criticized the new law allowing euthanasia, as well as the constitutional protection of the right to abortion.
The last stop of the pope's tour will be tomorrow in the city of Metz, near the Franco-German border, where the American-born pope is expected to give a speech on Europe.
In France, there is a strict separation of church and state, although for historical reasons there are exceptions in some eastern regions. Macron does not plan to attend any of the masses celebrated by the pope.
Catholics remain the largest religious group in France. However, the proportion of Muslims has grown significantly in recent years, and many people no longer identify themselves as followers of any religion, DPA notes.