Hundreds of thousands expected in Paris for Pope's visit

Pope Leo XIV begins a four‑day visit to France on Friday, with the highlight a massive Mass expected to draw more than half a million worshippers in central Paris. For Saturday’s daytime celebration, an altar has been erected on the Place de la Concorde and a large perimeter around the Champs‑Élysées has been sealed off by police. Some 600,000 Catholic faithful are expected to fill the avenue stretching up to the Arc de Triomphe and beyond. Large crowds are also anticipated at other stops on the pontiff’s itinerary, a development the Church attributes to a growing spiritual thirst among the French and other Europeans. President Emmanuel Macron will greet the Pope at Orly airport Friday morning, then hold talks with him at the Élysée Palace on geopolitical issues and artificial intelligence (AI). He is also slated to present a code with the Pope in Metz. Macron will not attend any of the Pope’s Masses, chiefly to avoid breaching France’s strict separation of state and religion. Instead, the Champs‑Élysées Mass will be witnessed by his wife, Brigitte, and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. Several contenders for next year’s presidential election are also expected to be present, including Marine Le Pen of the nationalist right, centrists Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal, and right‑wing figure Bruno Retailleau. Reports of tension between Macron and the Vatican team tasked with arranging the visit surfaced earlier, with the president said to have been frustrated over his desire for a more ceremonial component. Élysée officials dismissed those claims this week, noting that it is customary to offer a visiting head of state—a category that includes the Pope—a range of high‑profile events, such as a cavalry escort down the Champs‑Élysées. They added that the Pope was never expected to accept such an offer. Officials confirmed that Pope Leo declined Macron’s proposal to meet with the artisans who helped rebuild the fire‑damaged Notre‑Dame cathedral, citing an overly tight schedule. After a Popemobile drive through crowds to Notre‑Dame cathedral on Friday afternoon, Pope Leo XIV will be joined in the evening by 80,000 young people at the Stade de France in northern Paris. On Sunday, 150,000 individuals have signed up to take part in gatherings at the Pyrenean sanctuary of Lourdes.