Pope Leo leads open-air mass before an estimated 700,000 in Paris

The Guardian reports that Pope Leo celebrated mass at Paris’s Place de la Concorde on September 26, 2026, during the first official papal visit to France in 18 years. The paper cites a Vatican estimate of 700,000 attendees—about 100,000 more than had registered. On the second day of his four-day tour, Leo urged Catholics to share their faith rather than keep it to themselves.