‘Let it overflow’: Pope Leo draws 800,000 to open-air Mass in Paris

Several hundred thousand people have gathered in the French capital to attend Pope Leo XIV’s outdoor Mass.

The Vatican estimated that 800,000 people came out in Paris on Saturday, about 200,000 more than had registered in advance.

The American pope greeted flag-waving, cheering throngs from his popemobile as he rode along France’s 1.9km (1.2 miles) famous avenue, the Champs-Elysees.

Pope Leo urged the crowds not to keep their faith to themselves, but to “let it overflow, so that those you meet may be refreshed and their thirst satisfied”.

“From this beautiful city of Paris, I pray fervently that the living water of the Holy Spirit may flow throughout France,” he said.

A heavy security presence shut down central Paris to traffic, but the mood was celebratory, drawing people of multiple faiths and across generations, with dozens of babies and young children brought forward from the crowd for the pope to caress on the head as he rode past.

“The message of Pope Leo goes well beyond Catholic people; he speaks about social justice, for example,” said Leontine Joseph, 42, a Catholic who attended with two friends of Moroccan Muslim background.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who did not attend the Mass, was represented by his wife, Brigitte. Far-right presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen was also among the attendees. Le Pen currently leads the polls in advance of next year’s election, which is due to take place in mid-April.

The pope arrived in Lourdes, one of the Church’s most-visited shrines, in southern France on Saturday night and is due to meet seven French abuse survivors there on Sunday.

The pope is seeking to improve the Roman Catholic Church’s standing in France, five years after an inquiry found that 330,000 children were abused by its clergy and lay members over the span of seven decades. The religious leader has also been challenging France’s recently approved law allowing assisted dying.

The pontiff began his four-day tour, the first official papal trip to France in 18 years, on Friday with his arrival and prayer at the newly restored Notre Dame Cathedral, the first such visit by a pope since the building’s devastating 2019 fire.

On Friday, an estimated 300,000 people turned out to see the pontiff as he waved from the popemobile on the way to Notre Dame.

“There is a sense of fervour reminiscent of that experienced over 40 years ago with John Paul II,” Francois Mabille, director of the Geopolitical Observatory on Religion, told broadcaster RMC.

The pontiff met Macron on Friday and gave a rare speech at his official residence, the Elysee Palace.

He praised French society, describing it as the result of “a people whose diverse origins have enlivened and enriched the nation and its democracy”.

He also spoke out against AI, warning that “a paradise of machines” could cause people to lose their humanity.