"Hundreds of thousands of Catholics poured into Paris on Saturday as Pope Leo XIV held Mass in the city center, spreading a message of religious revival amid modern secularism stemming from the
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| Pope Leo XIV prays in front of the silver Virgin and Child |
French Revolution and calling on the faithful to “bring hope wherever discouragement and spiritual dryness prevail.”
France appears to be reviving, with baptisms of adults and teenagers hitting record levels this year in France, up 20 per cent over 2025.
The strength of the Catholic Church, which remains the largest religion in France, was on full display on Saturday, as an estimated 800,000 faithful flocked to the Champs-Élysées and the Place de la Concorde in central Paris for an outdoor mass led by Pope Leo XIV.
Driving down the cleared historic avenue, an honor usually reserved for French Presidents on Bastille Day, Leo was greeted by thousands of cheering people, while blessing children as he made his way from Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde.
Meanwhile, priests dotted the avenue, hearing open-air confessions from the faithful.
The Pope noted that there was a long history of French people who sacrificed for their faith, including Saints Irenaeus, Martin, and Francis de Sales, while adding that there are people who to this day “continue to devote themselves to the cause of life, the family, truth, peace, fraternity and justice.”.... “God’s surprising work” in combating the age of secularism that was in ushered into being during the Revolution.
Later that night, Pope Leo held an evening vigil for 80,000 young Catholics at France’s national soccer stadium in Paris, where he became the first pope to venerate the Holy Tunic of Christ, which has been venerated as Christ’s tunic in France for over 12 centuries after it was gifted to Emperor Charlemagne from Empress Irene of Constantinople around the year 800.
After the Mass in Paris, Pope Leo will travel to Lourdes in the foothills of the Pyrenees, where he is expected to greet over 150,000 pilgrims. The town and its Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes became one of the Catholic world’s top pilgrimage destinations following the 1858 apparitions of the Virgin Mary to St. Bernadette at the Grotto of Massabielle. Pope Leo will be the first to visit the site since Benedict XVI visited in 2008 for the 150th anniversary of the apparitions."
The Pope noted that there was a long history of French people who sacrificed for their faith, including Saints Irenaeus, Martin, and Francis de Sales, while adding that there are people who to this day “continue to devote themselves to the cause of life, the family, truth, peace, fraternity and justice.”.... “God’s surprising work” in combating the age of secularism that was in ushered into being during the Revolution.
Later that night, Pope Leo held an evening vigil for 80,000 young Catholics at France’s national soccer stadium in Paris, where he became the first pope to venerate the Holy Tunic of Christ, which has been venerated as Christ’s tunic in France for over 12 centuries after it was gifted to Emperor Charlemagne from Empress Irene of Constantinople around the year 800.
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