PARIS — Hundreds of thousands of people packed Paris' iconic Champs-Élysées avenue to attend an open-air Mass with Pope Leo XIV on Saturday, a sign of the Catholic Church's enduring appeal in the once staunchly Catholic but officially secular country.The Vatican estimated that 800,000 people attended — about 200,000 more than the number who had registered in advance.
The turnout testified to the church's lasting influence in France despite declining attendance and secularizing trends that have emptied churches across Europe.The American pope greeted the flag-waving, cheering throngs from his popemobile during a 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) parade along the grand boulevard leading to the Place de la Concorde for Mass, essentially the heart of Paris and a symbol of the French republic.In his homily, Leo asked the crowds not to keep their faith to themselves, but to instead '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.Although a security blanket shut down central Paris to road traffic, the partylike atmosphere drew people of multiple faiths and no faith at all.
The fervor spanned generations.
People brought dozens of babies and young children from the crowd for Leo to caress on the head as he rode slowly past aboard the popemobile.'The message of Pope Leo goes well beyond Catholic people; he speaks about social justice, for example,' said Leontine Joseph, 42, a fervent Catholic who came with two friends of Moroccan origin who grew up in Muslim culture.An appeal to persevere against the trendsLeo has sought to encourage French Catholics to persevere in their faith 'even amid the thorns' of a secular world during his four-day visit.
It began on Friday with his arrival and prayer at the restored Notre Dame, the first by a pope since the cathedral's devastating 2019 fire.
It continued Saturday night when Leo arrived in Lourdes in southern France, one of the Catholic Church's most-visited shrines.At the Catholic Institute of Paris on Saturday morning, the pope said he was surprised by the number of new converts in recent years.'We must recognize, welcome and protect the small flame that the Holy Spirit has kindled in the darkness of the night, the tiny seed that strives to grow even amid the thorns,' he said.Adult baptisms in France each year have tripled since 2016, hitting 13,000 this year.
But statistics and experts caution that the uptick, which has also been recorded in secular Spain, doesn't counteract the overall downward....
