More than 600,000 Catholic faithful are expected to attend Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming Mass in Paris on Saturday with the fabled Champs-Élysée to play host for the historic event.
Pope Leo XIV will begin a four-day Apostolic journey to France this Friday.
The Pope and his entourage departed from Rome’s Fiumicino airport on early Friday morning. Pope Leo is expected to hold a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron shortly after Macron receives him at Paris’ Orly International Airport. The Apostolic journey will see the Pope visit Paris, Lourdes, and Metz.
On Saturday, the Pontiff will preside over a massive, open-air Mass in Paris at the Champs-Élysée. A much-anticipated event where it is expected that around 600,000 faithful — if not more — will gather on that day to attend the historic event. An altar has been built on the Place de la Concorde for the historic event.
The 600,000 turnout estimations are based on an official registration period opened for the event over the past weeks that saw as many as 200,000 sign-ups within the first few hours when registrations first opened on August 10.
A perspective view from the avenue des Champs-Elysees as final preparations are underway across Paris before the giant open-air Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV. The Pope is undertaking a historic four-day Apostolic Journey to France to deliver a universal message of peace and European unity. (Laurent Caron / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images)
Archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich reportedly pointed out earlier this month that registration was not mandatory to attend the Mass but was nevertheless encouraged — suggesting that the actual turnout may end up exceeding the registration’s estimates.
The BBC noted that President Macron will not be attending the upcoming large Mass so as to avoid France’s strict separation of state and religion. First Lady Brigitte Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will represent the government at the mass.
Several French Presidential candidates such as Marine Le Pen, Bruno Retailleau, Edouard Philippe, and Gabriel Attal are also expected to participate.
Per Vatican News, the Pope’s visit to France officially bears the motto, “That the world may have life.” The Vatican’s Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin explained that the motto upholds the value of human life, which must be “welcomed, loved, and cared for from conception to natural death.”
“France today stands out for its large number of young adult catechumens. This provides an opportunity to highlight the thirst for spiritual life that marks the world today,” Parolin told Vatican News during a Thursday interview.
People stand behind a banner reading in French “welcome in France” as they wait for the arrival of Pope Leo XIV outside Orly airport, in the outskirts of Paris, on September 25, 2026 for his four days visit to France. (MEHDI FEDOUACH / AFP via Getty Images)
“Behind the motto ‘that the world may have life’ one can read ‘that the world may believe.’ For there is no life of the body without life of the soul,” he continued.
Parolin also highlighted during the interview that the Pope’s journey to France offers an opportunity to rediscover “life as a gift to be welcomed with gratitude and responsibility,” particularly against the backdrop of declining birth rates in Europe.
Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic journey to France marks the first official visit by a Pope to the European nation in 18 years since late Pope Benedict XVI’s visit in 2008.
His predecessor, the late Pope Francis, briefly visited Strasbourg, Marseille, and Corsica for specific events between 2014 and 2024 but not in an official state visit capacity.