Pope Leo in Paris: Young people are ‘today’s Church’
Leo XIV urged the crowd not to keep their faith to themselves but to “let it overflow” to the people they meet.
Pope Leo XIV has told young people they are “today’s Church” at an open-air Mass in Paris that drew hundreds of thousands of people to the city centre.
The Holy See Press Office said 800,000 faithful were present as the Pope rode in an open car from Place Charles-de-Gaulle to the Place de la Concorde on 26 September.
Vatican News, in its English reports, put the crowd at around 700,000. Neither said how its figure was reached.
Speaking in French, Leo addressed the young people in the crowd directly.
“How beautiful it is to see your enthusiasm, energy and commitment, and the joy you bring to Christian communities,” the Pope said, in the English translation published by the Vatican.
In the same passage, Leo spoke of families who “persevere courageously” despite the difficulties they face each day.
The passage also addressed catechumens and the newly baptised, who have begun “the journey of faith, conversion and Christian initiation”.
At a prayer vigil at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on 25 September, the Pope had spoken to young people about the worries weighing on their generation.
Among them, Leo listed “screen fatigue and anxiety about climate change and the international situation”.
The homily in Paris was built around the image of living water. Leo pointed to the day’s first reading, in which the prophet Ezekiel sees water flowing out of the Temple and across the desert.
“Are we content with material goods, immediate satisfactions, the countless little idols that promise us everything but leave our hearts empty?” the pontiff asked.
In the eyes of Jesus, Leo added, “none of us is merely a number or an entry in a register”.
The Pope named French saints who had “drunk from this living water”, from the first martyrs Blandina, Pothinus and Irenaeus to the founders of religious orders and the bishops Martin and Francis de Sales.
Leo also cited Vincent de Paul, Frédéric Ozanam and Jeanne Jugan, whose hearts were “attentive to the needs of others”.
The Mass fell on the second day of the Pope’s 25–28 September journey to France, which has also included a visit to the headquarters of Unesco, the UN’s education, science and culture body.
Laurent Ulrich, the Archbishop of Paris, thanked the Pope at the end of the Mass.
Leo then flew from Orly airport to Lourdes on an Air France A321.
Soon after landing, the Pope prayed at the Grotto of Massabielle, drank a glass of water from the spring and left a golden rose at the foot of a statue of the Virgin Mary.