Paris, France – Some 700,000 people are estimated to have packed the Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde in Paris on Saturday for Pope Leo XIV's open-air Mass, the high point of his first official visit to France. Scouts, nuns, families and curious onlookers told FRANCE 24 why they came, from quiet prayer to hopes of spotting Canadian singer Céline Dion.
An estimated 700,000 people took over the Champs-Élysées avenue and the Place de la Concorde public square in the heart of Paris on Saturday to see Pope Leo XIV celebrate an open-air Mass, the biggest event of his four-day visit to France – his first official papal trip to the country.
