Pontiff in Paris: Cheers ring out for Pope Leo as 800,000 spectators flock to open-air mass
Chants of "Leo, Leo" and "Long live the Pope" rang out during the first official papal trip to France in 18 years.
Hundreds of thousands of spectators flocked to see Pope Leo XIV hold an open-air mass in Paris on Saturday during his four-day visit to France.
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Huge crowds lined the Avenue des Champs-Élysées as the 71-year-old American pontiff delivered a speech from a special altar on the Place de la Concorde in the French capital.
Chants of "Leo, Leo" and "Long live the Pope" echoed down the roughly 2 km tree-lined boulevard as people pressed against security barriers for a glimpse of Leo as he arrived in an open-top popemobile.
The vehicle paused frequently as people waved white and yellow Vatican flags and Leo blessed people with disabilities, children and babies passed forward by volunteers.
Attendees included Brigitte Macron, the French president's wife, far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who is leading in the polls ahead of next year's presidential election, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu and Bernard Arnault, the billionaire chairman of French luxury group LVMH.
Talking directly to young people, who he described as "today's Church", Pope Leo said: “How beautiful it is to see your enthusiasm, energy and commitment, and the joy you bring to Christian communities."
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He asked the crowd to be open about their faith, saying: “Let it overflow, so that those you meet may be refreshed and their thirst satisfied,”
The Pope added: “From this beautiful city of Paris, I pray fervently that the living water of the Holy Spirit may flow throughout France.”
Addressing the Catholics, he said only their faith and not material thing will provide true happiness.
“Only God can fill the emptiness within us,” he said.
Cheers rang out as he spoke to what the Vatican estimated to be a crowd of 800,000 people.
The visit marked the first official papal trip to France in 18 years.
Around 14,500 police officers, gendarmes, military officers and firefighters were sent to the event for crowd control.
Up to 2,400 priests and deacons, as well as around 100 bishops, also attended.
Attendees began assembling before sunrise to hear the pontiff speak at the mid-afternoon mass.
The pope, who has forcefully decried the direction of global leadership in recent months, warned in a speech on Friday at the Paris headquarters of the UN culture and education body, UNESCO, that the UN and other multilateral groups were in crisis.
He also repeated his frequent appeal for the world to reconsider the development of artificial intelligence, telling French leaders that AI could create a future where "a paradise of machines" takes control of the Earth.
He has also frequently spoken out for peace, including in remarks with French leaders at the Elysee on Friday, with his comments criticising the Iran war earlier this year drawing a rebuke from US President Donald Trump.