Sawt Falasteen - French youth await pope after AI 'paradise of machines' warning

"I find it pretty crazy that there can be 80,000 of us and that we can all pray together," 27-year-old Jean Pelee told AFP before the pontiff's arrival for an evening vigil with 17 to 35 year-olds at a stadium outside Paris.

"I go to mass every Sunday, and it's true that I'm used to seeing a somewhat older crowd there."

Only around five percent of France's 69 million residents go to Catholic church regularly, a survey last year found.

But while the number of infant christenings has dwindled in recent years, teenage and adult baptisms are on the rise, with thousands choosing to embrace the faith.

Earlier in the afternoon, balconies and sidewalks were decked out in the Vatican's yellow-and-white colours as the pope crossed central Paris in his popemobile on the first official papal visit to the European nation in 18 years.

"He's here!" one person cried as the popemobile passed by, under a clear blue sky.

"Look, it's the Pope, this is crazy," said another.

- 'Feel it in my heart' -

The pope blessed the forehead of a little girl hoisted up above the faithful, with the Vatican estimating some 300,000 people had gathered along the roadside.

Terry Spytek, 83, travelled all the way from the United States to see the pope for just three seconds -- but she said it was worth it.

"I feel it right here, in my heart," she told AFP. "I feel very touched even if it was a very quick glance."

People rushed forward to kiss the hand of the first US pontiff before he entered the the Notre Dame Cathedral, becoming the first pontiff to enter the renovated building following a devastating 2019 fire.

His predecessor Pope Francis -- who visited France three times, but never officially -- did not attend the Gothic masterpiece's reopening in late 2024, when then president-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk were among the guests.

A million people are expected at events across Paris during the first two days of his trip, as he marks the first official trip by a head of the Vatican since Pope Benedict XVI in September 2008.

The high point of the apostolic journey will be a giant mass on Saturday, led by the pontiff at Place de la Concorde and adjoining Champs-Elysees.

The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics will also visit Lourdes, a pilgrimage site for Christians worldwide where he will privately meet victims of clerical sex abuse, and Metz, near the German border, where he is to speak about peace in Europe.

- 'Authentic secularity' -

The much-awaited parade came after Pope Leo spoke at the presidential palace on the need to safeguard humanity against artificial intelligence.

"If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for education in ethical discernment," he said beside President Emmanuel Macron.

In a time of tense transatlantic ties and as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine drags on in its fifth year, Pope Leo urged France to remain a "tireless champion of peace".

The pontiff's visit comes just seven months away from a presidential election to replace Macron, with the anti-immigration far right eyeing its best chance at seizing power.

In a proudly secular country that has for more than a century separated church and state, Pope Leo stressed that "authentic secularity" should not exclude religion "from the public sphere or from education".

Politicians have in recent years often invoked France's brand of secularism to justify bans on religious symbols, including Muslim women's attire, in public spaces and schools.

burs-ah/ach

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST