- Pope Leo XIV led an open-air Mass in central Paris that drew an estimated 800,000 attendees to the Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde in a major display of Catholic appeal within officially secular France .
- The 71-year-old American pontiff paraded along a two-kilometre route in his popemobile before delivering a homily encouraging the crowd to share their faith openly and pray for the Holy Spirit to flow throughout the country.
- The Mass was a centrepiece of a four-day visit to France, which began at the newly restored Notre-Dame Cathedral and included a stadium vigil with 80,000 young people, highlighting a recent rise in adult baptisms despite a long-term decline in overall church attendance.
- The event attracted a diverse crowd of practising Catholics, members of other faiths, and non-believers, many of whom praised the pope's broader message of peace, unity, and social justice.
- The staging of the religious service at Place de la Concorde—a historic site of the French Revolution and a symbol of the secular Republic—drew criticism from secularist advocates, though organisers stated it was the only central location capable of accommodating the massive turnout.
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