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The Popemobile descends slowly. The center of Paris, between the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysées, the Place de la Concorde, is carpeted by a human tide. Flags, banners and that cry, “Leon, Leon”, which marks the passage of the Pontiff. The authorities estimate the presence of 800 thousand people at Leo XIV’s mass in Paris, two hundred thousand more than the estimates on the eve. Never so many in the heart of the French capital. There is only one precedent: in ’97 for World Youth Day, a million kids came to Longchamp. But it was an international event, not the embrace of a secular country to the Pope of Rome, which today marks a new chapter for France which, on religion, seems to be changing its skin.
The message to French Catholics
And Leone looks at this human tide, with young people asking for baptism, families bringing their children to a religious event, Catholic associations expressing all their enthusiasm. And it sends a strong message: «Aspire to rediscover a bright horizon, to build a renewed nation starting from its roots watered by faith. Don’t keep your faith in Jesus Christ just for yourself, but let it overflow to quench the thirst and fill the people you meet. It is up to you – says Leo to the French Catholics – to bring hope where discouragement and spiritual aridity reign.”
Macron absent, the Elysée candidates in the front row
And if President Emmanuel Macron, as he had announced, chose not to participate in any mass (but on the other hand Brigitte was there today), there are many politicians, including some candidates for next year’s presidential elections, who instead parade in front of the Pontiff. In addition to Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, there are the former President Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of the Républicains and candidate for the Elysée Bruno Retailleau, the former Prime Minister François Fillon, the presidential candidate for the Macronian centre, Gabriel Attal, the former Prime Minister and also a probable candidate, Dominique de Villepin, the former Prime Minister and candidate for the Elysée Édouard Philippe. And above all the president of the Rassemblement National and candidate, Marine Le Pen, accompanied by Jordan Bardella.
Young people and baptisms
The enthusiasm for the Pope’s arrival turns into the silence of the liturgy, as happened yesterday in the long vigil with 80 thousand young people at the Stade de France. Children who did not receive the faith at home and who now, by the thousands, are asking to be baptized. Sometimes perhaps without full awareness, perhaps in the wake of some influencer, but among the reasons there is “the search for meaning”, as underlined before the Pope today by one of them. Leone candidly admits that he is «amazed by the number of people who reappear on the threshold of faith and by how many adults ask for the sacraments of Christian initiation. It may seem paradoxical – Leo And instead it is “the tangible sign of the work of God’s grace, which goes beyond statistical and sociological analyses”.
Attention to migrants
Special attention also goes to migrants in a society which is among the most multi-ethnic in Europe. Leone begins the day at the reception center dedicated to Saint Bakhita, emblem of the redemption of refugees, and at mass he then underlines: in the eyes of God “none of us is a number on an identity card, nor an identification code, but a person, a unique and irreplaceable person”.