Huge crowds greet Pope in Paris ahead of open-air Mass

Hundreds of thousands of individuals have greeted Pope Leo XIV in the centre of Paris ahead of a giant open-air Mass.

Key points

• Mayor of Le Havre and former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and former Prime Minister Francois Fillon were both additionally seen at the Place de la Concorde.
• Born in Chicago in 1955, Pope Leo XIV was originally called Robert Prevost – a French name.
• But the Champs-Élysées Mass will be attended by Macron's wife Brigitte and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
• On Sunday, 150, 000 have signed up to attend mass in the Pyrenean sanctuary of Lourdes.
• Crowds cheered as the pontiff moved down the Champs-Élysées Avenue beneath the Arc de Triomphe, waving to crowds from his popemobile.

For context, the head of the Catholic Church blessed a number of babies as he ceased at different stages along the avenue as chants of "Leo, Leo" rang out.

More than half a million individuals are anticipated to attend the event in the heart of the French capital on Saturday and a special altar has been built on the Place de la Concorde for the ceremony.

French President Emmanuel Macron. This person met Leo for an hour of discussions on Friday, will not be at any of the Pope's Masses during his four-day visit to France, largely to avoid breaching France's strict separation of state and religion.

For context, a number of candidates for next year's presidential election are additionally projected to attend.

While centrists Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal are additionally due to be there, marine Le Pen of the hard-right National Rally party and conservative Bruno Retailleau were both pictured at the Place de la Concorde ahead of the event.

Earlier on Saturday, the Pope met migrants as he visited the Maison Bakhita centre, an association supporting refugees, and praised the organisation for inviting "us to see those who are invisible".

During the visit Leo remarked it was "possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace".

He additionally stressed the "the fundamental role of women in building a civilisation of love".

Notably, the Pope additionally issued a warning concerning the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) at the start of his visit to France on Friday.

Leo cautioned against "losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines" in wide-ranging remarks to Church and state authorities at the Élysée Palace.

Sizeable crowds are anticipated throughout the pontiff's trip. It the Church believes reflects a growing spirituality among the French and other Europeans.

Notably, the Pope will be in Metz, in northeast France, on Monday 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.

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.

For now, huge crowds greet Pope in Paris ahead of open remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.