Pope Leo XIV celebrated an open-air mass in front of hundreds of thousands of faithful in Paris on Saturday after riding in the popemobile along the iconic Champs Elysees to the cheers of huge crowds clutching French and Vatican flags.
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XIV → celebrate → flags
In the highlight of the visit’s second day, the 71-year-old pope led believers in a mass at Place de la Concorde, where a giant white canopy had been erected to serve as a makeshift altar.
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canopy → lead → altar
Dozens of screens were installed to allow worshippers to follow the hour-and-a-half-long service.
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worshippers → instal → service
The trip stirred visible enthusiasm and spiritual fervour among the faithful.
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trip → stir → faithful
The pope’s prayers were accompanied by choir and organ music as the sun broke through the grey skies.
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sun → accompany → skies
“It is truly good and pleasant when brothers and sisters come together and glorify the greatness of God,” said Pope Leo, dressed in white liturgical vestments.
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Leo → come → vestments
Over a stretch of more than two kilometres, some 700,000 people had gathered all the way beyond the Arc de Triomphe, the Vatican said.
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Vatican → gather → Triomphe
The city centre was sealed off for the service, with helicopters circling overhead and snipers positioned on rooftops.
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snipers → seal → rooftops
Some people sitting on the pavement hugged their knees and dropped their heads in concentration as they listened to the pope’s voice echo across the Champs Elysees.
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voice → sit → Elysees
Parents arrived with pushchairs and held children on their shoulders as crowds hoped to catch a glimpse of the pontiff.
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crowds → arrive → pontiff
Important moment
Jeanne de Montagnac, 29, came with her husband and two-year-old girl, who was perched on his shoulders with a telephone number scribbled in pen on her arm.
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who → come → arm
“We’re happy that, even if she won’t remember it, we’re sharing this with her,” she said, a small golden cross dangling over her off-white jumper.
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cross → ’re → jumper
“It’s an important moment for us to be surrounded by other people who also have faith.”
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who → ’ → faith
The first US pontiff was visiting France seven months before voters choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron, with the anti-immigration far right eyeing its best opportunity yet to capture the presidency.
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right → visit → presidency
A number of presidential hopefuls were present, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Edouard Philippe.
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number → include → Pen
President Emmanuel Macron did not attend the mass and was represented by his wife Brigitte.
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Macron → attend → wife
“We’re incredibly lucky,” Suzanne Grange, 62, said ahead of the service.
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Grange → ’re → service
“We were already lucky enough to see Pope John Paul II in Paris back in 1980,” added her husband Pascal, 65.
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Pascal → see → 1980
Dignity and peace
Earlier in the day, the pope met migrants as he visited Maison Bakhita, an association supporting refugees.
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he → meet → refugees
Leo said it was “possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace.”
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it → say → dignity
He also stressed the “fundamental role of women in building a civilisation of love.”
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He → stress → love
The association said the pope’s visit sent a “message” ahead of the April-May election.
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visit → say → election
On Friday, an estimated 300,000 people turned out to see the pontiff as he waved from his popemobile on the way to the Notre Dame Cathedral.
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he → estimate → Cathedral
“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.
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Mabille → be → RMC
On Friday, Pope Leo stressed the need for ethics to avoid an AI-driven “paradise of machines” and, as war rages in Ukraine for a fifth year, urged France to remain a “tireless champion of peace.”
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war → stress → peace
He also told young adults at a stadium outside Paris on Friday night that they were the “saints of France.”
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they → tell → France
Later Saturday Pope Leo will head to Lourdes, a southwestern town where, according to Catholic tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared in a grotto in 1858 to a peasant girl.
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Mary → head → girl
On Sunday, he will speak with seven victims of clerical sex abuse.
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he → speak → abuse
A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France, over seven decades.
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clergy → find → decades
For the last leg of his trip, in Metz on Monday, Leo is set to deliver a speech about peace in Europe.
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Leo → set → Europe
The Aporia
