Pope Leo XIV Leads Mass for 600,000 on Paris's Champs-Élysées
Pope Leo XIV celebrated an open-air Mass on Paris's Champs-Élysées on Saturday, September 26, drawing an estimated 600,000 faithful. The event ranked among the largest outdoor Masses held anywhere in the world.
One of the largest outdoor religious gatherings in the world took place in central Paris on Saturday, September 26, as Pope Leo XIV celebrated an open-air Mass along the famous Champs-Élysées avenue.
Reports indicate that roughly 600,000 people attended the event, making it a standout moment among recent public religious gatherings and demonstrating the ability of the pope and the Catholic Church to draw enormous crowds in major European capitals.
How the event unfolded
Holding a Mass of this scale outdoors required significant planning, given both the sheer number of attendees and the unique characteristics of one of the world's most famous boulevards. France 24 correspondent Stella Elgersma was on the scene to document the event and report on it for a wider audience.
A public religious gathering of this magnitude in the heart of Paris points to the substantial security and logistical coordination needed to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people in a single location.
The pope's visit to France and the staging of this large-scale Mass underline the Catholic Church's continued presence in public life, as well as the strong interest that a papal visit generates among both the faithful and the broader public.
