Katholische Kirche: Hunderttausende bei Papstmesse in Paris

More than a hundred thousand individuals gathered for a grand papal mass led by Pope Leo XIV in the city center of Paris. The head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics was greeted by a massive crowd near the Champs-Élysées. Officially, around 600,000 people had registered to attend. Under the enthusiastic applause of a large crowd, Leo XIV. previously drove the Papamobil through the Champs-Élysées.

The American-born Pope has been in France since Friday for a visit. On the late afternoon, he will continue to the Marian pilgrimage site of Lourdes in southwestern France. Despite the strict separation between church and state, Leo receives great acclaim during his first France visit. On Saturday, Leo first visited a social center.

Later, he met with adults who had recently been baptized. He urged them not to be swayed by faith in Christ and to spread the faith further. According to the French Episcopal Conference, 13,000 adults were baptized this year, three times more than a decade ago. However, the number of baptisms for children has more than halved since 2000.

Long lines were present even before the start. Leo arrived in a Papamobil on Champs-Élysées, a large Parisian square. Many believers sang hymns while waiting for the mass to start at 3 PM. Some wore jerseys of the French national football team with "Pape Léon" (Pope Leo) and the number 14 on the back. Safety reasons led to the surrounding area of the Champs-Élysées being blocked off up to the opposite side of the Seine.

One of the hundred thousand, Frenchman Étienne Fabre, said, "We've been waiting nearly 20 years for this visit here in Paris. We deeply missed the Pope." Just last time, the German Pope Benedict XVI. visited the French capital in 2008. Given the jubilant scenes, French media talked about "papomania." Among the visitors are church groups from Germany.

The theology student Johann Beikircher (27) from Freiburg said, "Something like this, the great joy, would be unthinkable in Germany. Here, the church doesn't have to hide." However, he hopes for a soon visit of the Pope to Germany. There is no date for that yet. The Pope's first trip to France since his election last year will end on Monday in the city of Metz, near the French-German border. There, he will hold a Europe speech.