Pope Leon XIV draws massive crowds during four-day French tour

During a four-day visit to France, Pope Leon XIV led a mass on the Champs-Élysées that gathered nearly 800,000 faithful and then addressed young Catholics at a vigil in the Stade de France. He continued his pilgrimage with stops in Lourdes, located in the Hautes-Pyrénées, and in Metz, in Moselle, drawing crowds that together exceeded one million across the three sites. In his remarks, the pope touched on a range of subjects, including the moral dimensions of end-of-life decisions, the pursuit of peace, the future of Europe, the role of artificial intelligence, and the Church’s response to sexual violence. The visit was covered in a Code source podcast episode narrated by journalist Thomas Poupeau, with production contributions from one outlet's newsroom team.