Pope

Pope Leo XIV celebrated an open-air Mass in Paris attended by hundreds of thousands of people, according to photo coverage from the event. The large turnout in the French capital highlights the scale of public interest in the pope's visit, with crowds filling the open-air venue for the ceremony.

Pope Francis brought a message on protecting life to the French shrine of Lourdes, a Marian pilgrimage site famous for reported miraculous healings. The visit ties the Vatican's defence-of-life teaching to one of Catholicism's most venerated places of prayer, drawing attention from Catholics worldwide and renewing focus on Lourdes' tradition of pilgrimage and claimed cures.

The Pope has celebrated a large open-air Mass in Paris during a landmark visit to France, drawing crowds in the French capital. The trip is being closely watched as a significant moment for the Catholic Church's relationship with France, though further details of the visit and reactions to it remain limited in available reports.

President Emmanuel Macron was absent from the Pope's mass in Paris, but reacted on X by posting a video of the popemobile circling the Arc de Triomphe through a jubilant crowd. "Concord and Fraternity. France is proud to welcome Pope Leo XIV," the president wrote, saluting the pontiff's visit despite his own no-show at the service, a choice drawing comment and debate.

Pope Leo opened his trip to France with a stark warning that a 'paradise of machines' risks undermining humanity, urging that technology should serve people rather than replace human judgment and dignity. The remarks, made at the start of the visit, tie growing unease over artificial intelligence to a moral and spiritual call for balance.

Pope Leo travelled to Lourdes, the French shrine that draws millions of pilgrims each year, in a visit shadowed by fresh reminders of the Catholic Church's abuse scandals. The Washington Post reports the trip placed the pontiff at one of Catholicism's most sacred sites just as the church's past sins resurfaced, prompting reflection on accountability and the institution's credibility among the faithful.

Pope Leo is making a visit to France, drawing attention from observers in France and abroad. Details of his itinerary and public remarks have not yet been widely reported, but the trip is being followed given his recent election as pope and the significance of a papal visit to a historically Catholic yet firmly secular republic.

Pope Leo has called on the Catholic Church in France to nurture the seeds of faith, addressing the French Church at a time when it continues to face declining religious practice and institutional challenges. The appeal, reported by Vatican News, emphasises renewal and the growth of belief among the faithful. Church observers see it as encouragement for local communities to strengthen their pastoral work and outreach.

Pope Francis met with the bishops of France in the Sainte-Bernadette hemicycle of the Lourdes sanctuary. The gathering opened with a prayer and a hymn to the Holy Spirit before the Pope addressed the French episcopate. The meeting is being followed closely in France, where Lourdes remains the country's most important Catholic pilgrimage site.