Hundreds of thousands expected in Paris for Pope's visit

ByHugh Schofield in Paris.

Key points

• Born in Chicago in 1955, Pope Leo XIV was originally called Robert Prevost – a French name.
• Some 600, 000 Catholic faithful are projected to cram the avenue up to the Arc de Triomphe and beyond.
• Instead, the Champs-Élysées Mass will be attended by his wife Brigitte and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
• On Sunday 150, 000 have signed up to attend mass in the Pyrenean sanctuary of Lourdes.
• "France has indeed secularised, but there is a void where God and values used to be, " remarked Cardinal François Bustillo, Bishop of Ajaccio.

Pope Leo XIV embarks on a four-day visit to France on Friday, with the highpoint being a giant Mass attended by more than half a million individuals in central Paris.

For Saturday's afternoon celebration, an altar has been built on the Place de la Concorde and a sizeable area around the Champs-Élysées sealed off by police.

Sizeable crowds are additionally due at other stages in the Pope's itinerary, reflecting an enthusiasm that the Church attributes to growing spiritual thirst among the French and other Europeans.

President Emmanuel Macron will greet the Pope at Orly airport on Friday morning, and then hold discussions with him at the Élysée Palace on geopolitical matters and artificial intelligence (AI). He will additionally deliver a speech with the Pope in Metz.

Nevertheless, the president will not be at any of the Pope's Masses, largely to avoid breaching France's strict separation of state and religion.

Instead, the Champs-Élysées Mass will be attended by his wife Brigitte and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. A number of candidates for next year's presidential election are additionally due, including Marine Le Pen of the nationalist right, centrists Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal, and conservative Bruno Retailleau.

There were reports of tensions between Macron and the Vatican team sent to create arrangements, with the president allegedly frustrated in his wish for a more ceremonial aspect to the visit.

This was dismissed this week by Élysée authorities. This person stated it was customary to offer a visiting head of state – which the Pope is – a range of high-profile events, such as a cavalry escort down the Champs-Élysées. But they remarked it was never anticipated that the Pope would actually take the offer up.

They did confirm that Pope Leo turned down Macron's idea of a session with artisans who assisted rebuild the fire-devastated Notre-Dame cathedral. This was since his agenda was too tight, they stated.

After a Popemobile ride through crowds to Notre-Dame cathedral on Friday afternoon, Pope Leo XIV will be joined in the evening by 80, 000 young individuals at the Stade de France in northern Paris.

On Monday the Pope will be in Metz, in northeast France, where he will pay tribute to Robert Schuman (1886-1963), a founding father of the European Union and a fervent Catholic who is today a candidate for beatification.

Notably, the Pope will additionally meet a group of migrants in Paris, and in Lourdes some victims of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy.

In fact his paternal grandmother was born in Le Havre in Normandy in 1894. When she married in the US plenty of years afterwards she and her Italian husband took the name Prevost. It had been her mother's maiden-name.

France has a historically complex relationship with the Catholic Church of Rome. The country was long known as the "Eldest Daughter of the Church" since supposedly, but inaccurately, it was the first kingdom to convert to Christianity. Actually Armenia, Georgia and Ethiopia preceded it.

In the 14th Century the papacy came in exile to Avignon in southern France, and over after centuries French armies periodically intervened in Italian politics, where popes were secular rulers as well as heads of the Church. Napoleon held two popes in captivity.

Recent popes have all come to France, most notably John-Paul II. This person came a number of times between 1980 and 2004, and Pope Francis who came three times, but avoided Paris, going instead to Strasbourg, Marseilles and Corsica.

Today France has secularised with the rest of Europe, and less than half of the population identifies as Catholic.

While the number of priests has shrunk by two-thirds from 25, 000 in 1990 to fewer than 9, 000, the number of regular worshippers has fallen from 35% of the population in 1960 to less than 5% today.

But over recent years there have been signs of a growing interest in religious tradition, with the number of adult baptisms more than doubling in five years to hit 10, 000 in 2025.

Individuals are searching for something. Maybe they go to India or Tibet or the Amazon. And now the Pope comes here from Rome, bringing a reminder to individuals of their own roots.

"It was John-Paul II who awoke the East. Now Leo XIV will awake the West, " he remarked.

Taken together, the developments around hundreds of thousands expected in Paris for Pope' s visit point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.