Pope Leo draws 600,000 registered to Paris open-air Mass

Pope Leo XIV was greeted by hundreds of thousands of people in central Paris on 26 September 2026, ahead of an open-air Mass at Place de la Concorde. More than 600,000 people registered for the ceremony, which was scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. local time (1300 GMT) on the Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde.france24.com+1

The scale of the gathering matters because it is the largest event of Leo's four-day visit to France, his first as pope. Organisers said Place de la Concorde was the only area in central Paris that could accommodate the hundreds of thousands expected, and they extended the crowd site last week after predicting more people than first planned.bbc.co.uk

Why the venue choice matters

Crowds cheered as the pontiff moved down the Champs-Élysées Avenue beneath the Arc de Triomphe, waving from his popemobile. He blessed several babies as he stopped at stages along the avenue, while chants of "Leo, Leo" rang out. People began gathering hours before the service, with many parents and children among those hoping to catch a glimpse of the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

Central Paris shut down for the Mass, with road closures reminiscent of the security arrangements for the Olympic Games in 2024. On Saturday the closures extended to one of the city's most iconic neighbourhoods, covering the Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde. Thousands of pilgrims flocked to secure a place under cloudy skies in the hours before the service began.dw.com

French President Emmanuel Macron met Leo for an hour of talks on Friday but will not attend any of the Pope's Masses during his four-day visit, largely to avoid breaching France's strict separation of state and religion. Macron's wife Brigitte and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu were due at the Champs-Élysées Mass, alongside several candidates for next year's presidential election.

Who attended and who stayed away

Marine Le Pen of the National Rally party and conservative Bruno Retailleau were pictured at Place de la Concorde ahead of the event. Centrists Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal were also due to be there, and former Prime Minister Francois Fillon was seen at the square. On Friday, around 300,000 people gathered to see the pontiff wave from his popemobile on the way to the restored Notre Dame Cathedral.

Earlier on Saturday, Leo met migrants at the Maison Bakhita centre, an association supporting refugees, praising the organisation for inviting "us to see those who are invisible". At the Catholic Institute of Paris he said it was "possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace", and stressed the fundamental role of women in building a civilisation of love.

The turnout comes against a mixed picture of faith in France. The number of adult baptisms each year has tripled since 2016, hitting 13,000 this year, but statistics caution that this uptick does not reverse the broader decline: France recorded 513,000 baptisms in 1980 and 186,000 in 2024. Some 80,000 young people filled the national stadium north of Paris on Friday night.

What comes next on the trip

On Sunday, 150,000 people have signed up to attend Mass in the Pyrenean sanctuary of Lourdes, where Leo is due to meet survivors of clergy sexual abuse. On Monday he will be in Metz, in northeast France, to pay tribute to Robert Schuman (1886-1963), a founding father of the European Union and a candidate for beatification.