Pope Leo XIV continued an apostolic journey to France on Saturday by celebrating mass in front of 700,000 people at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.

Pope Leo XIV visited the Maison Bakhita Center and celebrated an open-air Mass at Place de la Concorde in Paris before concluding his day at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes.

Hundreds of thousands of people packed Paris’ iconic Champs-Élysées avenue for Pope Leo XIV’s big outdoor Mass on Saturday, a sign of the Catholic Church’s enduring appeal in the once staunchly Catholic but officially secular country.

For the first time since the world watched as Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris burned in the devastating 2019 fire, the pope stepped inside the famous Gothic cathedral and called on Catholics in France to be "living stones" of a Church that bears witness to how God's love restores and heals humanity.

Speaking in France, the pontiff praised postwar efforts to unify the continent. Experts saw it as a critique of President Trump’s repeated berating of European leaders.

Air France flew Pope Leo XIV across France in a specially liveried A321, with the pontiff visiting the cockpit crew and blessing Rafale escort pilots via radio.

Pope Leo XIV will open his second day in Paris with a special visit. On Sept. 26, he will cross the threshold of Maison Bakhita, a facility run by the Archdiocese of Paris dedicated to providing shelter for people in extreme need,

Pope Leo XIV is urging Europe to draw from its Christian roots and traditions of dialogue to confront the thirst for domination driving today’s wars.