Female (France) —
France may have a highly secularized culture, but it welcomed Pope Leo XIV as a superstar.
About 800,000 people lined the Champs-Elysées in Paris, some waving Vatican and French flags, others climbing trees and standing shoulder-to-shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Popemobile. The Vatican estimates that about 150,000 people attended the pope’s open-air mass in the holy city of Lourdes in southern France, dwarfing the number of faithful who gathered during the last papal visit in 2008.
While the Chicago-born pope attempted to address several topics during his trip, Leo appeared comfortable and relaxed during his four-day visit, delivering most of his speeches and reflections in French.
Leo is focused on trying to reinvigorate faith in traditional European Catholic centers, as well as addressing big political themes such as clerical sex abuse scandals and artificial intelligence. He also offers some more personal, unscripted statements that help him form a clearer image of himself.
While his predecessors never made official visits to Europe’s major Catholic countries, France and Spain, Pope Leo visited both countries within a year and a half of his inauguration.
France, with its deep Catholic roots and sometimes described as the “eldest daughter of the church,” also faces a long-term trend of declining church attendance, with only an estimated 5-8% of the population heading to the pews each week.
But the French bishops just recently reported some good news. Since approximately 8,200 youth and 13,200 adults were baptized in 2026, the number of new members joining the church has increased tremendously. This is a 20% increase from the previous year, and the church also said that 42% of adults seeking baptism were between the ages of 18 and 25, reflecting Gen Z’s growing religious tolerance.
Pope Leo must have taken note of this when 80,000 young people packed into the Stade de France for a jubilant and loud prayer vigil. It was similar to when the Pope visited Spain in June.
“There is a search for meaning. People need and are looking for meaning and answers to big existential questions,” the Rev. Benoît Pouzin, a youth minister in southwestern France, told CNN.
France maintains a strict separation of church and state, so any papal visit must be handled with caution. However, in a surprising development, Leo’s mass in Paris was celebrated in the Place de la Concorde. This is the place where France’s last king, Louis XVI, and Marie Antoinette were guillotined, and is deeply associated with the secular republic. Separation of the church began with the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution.
In another unusual move late in the trip, President Emmanuel Macron also attended a papal mass in the northeastern city of Metz, despite criticism for similar behavior during Pope Francis’ visit in 2023.
Pope Leo isn’t panicking about AI, but warns about its power
Many in the audience also pointed to Leo’s role as another major American leader on the world stage. It’s hard not to see him as a counterweight to President Donald Trump. In contrast to the Trump administration, the pope warned against a “mechanical paradise” while in Paris and called for stronger guardrails around the development of artificial intelligence.
Pope Leo said he takes warnings about the threat of artificial intelligence to humanity seriously and said it would be irresponsible for people to silently ignore the risks of AI.
President Trump dismissed as a “hoax” a warning about AI he made in a surprise phone call with chipmaker Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a summit in Los Angeles.
“I do not believe that it is fake news aimed at giving pause, as some people say,” Leo XIV said on the papal plane from Metz to Rome.
Leo, who has shown a keen interest in artificial intelligence since becoming pontiff, said he found it “interesting” that Huang announced new tools to prevent AI agents from operating beyond human control.
“But I agree with him that there should be no limits, there should be no government regulation,” the Pope said.
Earlier this year, the Pope wrote the first major theological document on AI, warning against its use in warfare and calling for stronger ethical foundations for the development of the technology.
The Pope explained that the Vatican has set up its own AI commission to understand how AI can be used and its risks and benefits, and needs to “continue to invite political leaders and AI leaders” so they can “consider what is already happening and what could happen in the future.”
He explained: “We continue to foster dialogue, research, and investigation to find ways to prevent AI from reaching a point where it could wipe out humanity.”
“If someone asks me, am I in a state of panic? No, I’m not. I’m sleeping at night,” the Pope said, but added, “I think the concerns raised by many experts, experts in AI, should be taken seriously.”
“I think just turning a blind eye and saying, ‘Oh, that’s not going to happen,’ is probably not the most responsible way to go about it,” Leo said.
Concerns about the far right and Christianity
The Pope, who has voiced opposition to the US war on Iran, also wants a more united Europe, a stronger European Union and stronger international cooperation. “Today, the relationship between the individual and the state is becoming increasingly uncivilized,” the pope said in Metz on Monday. “The value of keeping promises is ignored, and instead people boast of lies and deceit.”
The Pope’s speech also praised Robert Schumann, one of the founders of the European Union, although there is still a formal cause to make him a saint.
Pope Leo XIV warned of the exploitation of Christianity by far-right political groups, while calling on the church to be proactive in preventing extremism. Speaking on the papal plane, he said the “combination of far-right views and certain religions” could not be considered “an authentic expression of Christianity.”
The Pope’s comments came in response to a question about the rise of extremist parties in Germany as he returned from a major speech on European unity on the Franco-German border.
“We return to the values of the Gospel (Christian teaching), which are not about hatred and division, but about understanding and compassion,” the pope said.
The American pope also responded to President Trump’s White House media ban, which included CNN and other news outlets. “Welcome everyone,” he said in response to a question from CNN. “Good journalism is so important and I’m so happy that we can provide it across the board for everyone.” This reaction was typical Leo. It was an expression of support for the press, but also a desire not to stir up unnecessary controversy with the president.
The American pope’s in-flight interactions with journalists were rare unscripted moments, and his answers often revealed more about his personality. On the plane from Rome to Paris, the Pope was asked if he had anything to do with the recent miraculous victory of his beloved baseball team, the Chicago White Sox. “No comment,” he said, before adding with a smile, “Great things happen in Chicago.”
He also recalled childhood memories of watching American archbishop and broadcaster Fulton Sheen, who was recently declared “blessed” one step away from becoming a saint, and practiced his French, but revealed he no longer uses the language app Duolingo. “Fake news!” he said of recent reports. Leo has been spotted using Duolingo to learn German in the past.
Leo doesn’t just speak out about issues back home. He also expressed concern about assisted dying, which France recently approved, giving rights to the terminally ill, which the Catholic Church strongly opposes. Leo spoke on this topic several times during his visit. The most obvious one was Lourdes, a town known for its “temple of miracles” that draws large numbers of sick and terminally ill pilgrims to its shrines.
Willingness to confront church scandals
But the Pope must continue to fight the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse scandal. France was shocked by a 2021 report that estimates some 330,000 children have been sexually abused by clergy and other church officials over 70 years. He told the crowd that the church must admit its shortcomings and heal its “deep wounds” before holding a two-hour meeting with seven abuse victims.
The Vatican said Leo thanked them for “their painful testimony” and “reaffirmed our determination to ensure that the harm they suffered is not repeated for others.”
However, the scandal still lingers. A banner was erected on the facade of Lourdes cathedral over a controversial mosaic ahead of Leo’s visit. The mosaics, which will remain on display indefinitely, were designed by Reverend Marko Rupnik, a Slovenian priest and artist accused of sexual and psychological abuse of adult women. The local bishop said the pope supported how the Apostolic Legation was treating the artist’s work. Bishop Jean-Marc Mikas also said that Leo had ordered the Vatican’s internal press to stop using Rupnik’s art. Mr. Rupnik, who maintains his innocence, faces an ecclesiastical trial at the Vatican, which his accusers say is taking too long and lacks transparency.
The Pope was elected 16 months ago and is still crafting the story of his papacy. Some inside the Vatican find him difficult to read, and the pope is known to keep his cards close to his chest. But it will be done in public as he travels abroad to France and, in November, Latin America, where the Leo Papacy is beginning to take shape.
