Sawt Falasteen - Pope prays at Lourdes after huge Paris mass

The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics is on a four-day trip to France, a secular country with deep Catholic roots, on the first official papal visit there in nearly two decades.

In the southwestern pilgrimage town the US pontiff prayed at the Grotto of Massabielle, where Catholic tradition holds that the Virgin Mary appeared in 1858 to a peasant girl, later Saint Bernadette.

Months of ahead of a presidential election with the far-right surging and immigration high on the agenda, he prayed to the Virgin Mary to "obtain for France wise and generous leaders... eager to serve the common good".

"May they make her (France's) voice heard in promoting the defence of fundamental human rights and peace in the world, rejecting the mentality of war once and for all."

AFP reporters saw him perform the rituals observed by the many pilgrims to the cave: touching the rock, lighting a candle and drinking spring water.

On Sunday, Leo will meet privately with seven victims of clerical sex abuse. A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France, over seven decades.

- Giant Paris mass -

In an earlier highlight of the visit's second day, the 71-year-old pope led enthusiastic worshippers in a mass at Paris's Place de la Concorde, where a giant white canopy had been erected to serve as a makeshift altar.

His prayers were accompanied by choral and organ music as the sun broke through the grey skies.

"It is truly good and pleasant when brothers and sisters come together and glorify the greatness of God," said Pope Leo, dressed in white liturgical vestments.

Some 800,000 people had gathered all the way beyond the Arc de Triomphe, the Vatican said.

"It's one time in history to see the pope," said Aline Riziki, 41, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has lived in France for 11 years.

"I dropped everything to come here and see him, to pray for peace in the east" of her homeland, wracked by conflict for decades, she said.

- 'Important moment' -

Jeanne de Montagnac, 29, came with her husband and two-year-old girl, who was perched on his shoulders.

"We're happy that, even if she won't remember it, we're sharing this with her," she said, a small golden cross dangling over her jumper.

"It's an important moment for us to be surrounded by other people who also have faith."

The first US pontiff was visiting France seven months before voters choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron.

A number of presidential hopefuls were present, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Edouard Philippe.

Macron did not attend the mass but was represented by his wife Brigitte. The president said in a message on X that France was "proud to welcome Pope Leo XIV and this monumental mass in the heart of Paris".

- 'Dignity and peace' -

Earlier in the day, the pope met migrants at Maison Bakhita, an association supporting refugees. Leo said it was "possible to encounter one another and to live together in dignity and peace".

He also stressed the "fundamental role of women in building a civilisation of love".

The association said the pope's visit sent a "message" ahead of the April-May election.

Thousands of faithful watched his arrival at the site on giant screens.

The sanctuary, one of the most important Catholic holy sites in the world, receives some three million pilgrims each year. Catholics credit it with miraculous healings.

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T.Ibrahim--SF-PST