France welcomed Pope Leo XIV toParis on Saturday, as hundreds of thousands of people gathered along theChamps-Élysées to see the pontiff travel bypopemobile to an outdoorMass.
Waving flags and cheering, the crowds lined a 2-kilometre route from near theArc de Triomphe towardsPlace de la Concorde. The Vatican estimated that about** 800,000 peopleattended the Mass, exceeding the 600,000who had registered in advance. Leo stopped repeatedly to wave to the crowd and bless children and babies** before reaching the ceremony.
After the Paris Mass, Leo travelled to Lourdes, where he began his pilgrimage on Saturday evening with a silent prayer at the** Grotto of the Apparitions**. The site is associated with the visions reported by** Bernadette Soubirous**, then aged 14, in 1858. On his first full day in Lourdes, the pope** walked barefootpart of the way to the sanctuary, greeting pilgrims and pausing to speak with families who had travelled from across Europe. He spent several minutes in personal prayerinside the basilica before meeting privately with shrine rectors and chaplains**.
On Sunday, Leo is due to meet French bishops and celebrate another outdoor Mass at the sanctuary. He is also scheduled to meetsick people andseven survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and personnel, before concluding the visit with aRosary and torchlight procession.