Pope Leo XIV’s Paris Mass draws Vatican estimate of 700,000

Pope Leo XIV celebrated an outdoor Mass at Paris’s Place de la Concorde on Saturday, drawing an estimated 700,000 people, according to a Vatican figure reported by several accounts. That estimate exceeded the 600,000 people who had registered in advance. The attendance was not independently counted in the available reporting, and one account gave a higher estimate of 800,000. Crowds gathered along the Champs-Élysées and around the square, with many arriving before sunrise. Leo travelled along the avenue in an open-top popemobile, stopping to greet people and bless children, babies and people with disabilities who were brought forward by volunteers. White and yellow Vatican flags waved above the crowd, while chants and cheers accompanied his arrival. In his homily, Leo urged Catholics to seek happiness through faith rather than material possessions. He also encouraged them not to keep their faith private, saying it should reach others. People of different religious backgrounds, as well as those who did not identify as religious, attended. Some described the Mass as a chance to hear the pope’s message or to take part in a rare public gathering centered on Catholicism.