Pope Leo Draws 800,000 People to Central Paris for Open-Air Mass

…boulevard leading to the Place de la Concorde for Mass, essentially the heart of Paris and a symbol of the French republic. In his homily, Leo asked the crowds not to keep their faith to themselves, but to instead “ let it overflow, so that those you meet may be refreshed and their thirst satisfied. ” “From this beautiful city of Paris, I pray fervently that the living water of the Holy Spirit may flow throughout France,” he said. Although a security blanket shut down central Paris to road traffic, the partylike…

…of multiple faiths and no faith at all. The fervor spanned generations. People brought dozens of babies and young children from the crowd for Leo to caress on the head as he rode slowly past aboard the popemobile. “ The message of Pope Leo goes well beyond Catholic people; he speaks about social justice, for example ,” said Leontine Joseph, 42, a fervent Catholic who came with two friends of Moroccan origin who grew up in Muslim culture. An appeal to persevere against the trends Leo has sought to encourage French Catholics to…

…in recent decades. Huge crowds celebrated on the Champs-Elysées when France won the soccer World Cup in 1998 and again in 2018. Many on Saturday didn't identify as Catholics, but came to hear the pope's message. “ People are seeing a lot of really terrible images. This kind of event reminds people of what is really important in life ,” said Thierry Chen, a 40-year-old Parisian startup entrepreneur who is not Catholic. “You see a lot of different people here, so it’s not just about one race, religion or nation, but about a common belief in…