An estimated 800,000 people attended the pontiff’s open-air Mass.

PARIS — Pope Leo XIV told his congregation at an open-air Mass in Paris on Saturday that “none of us is merely a number or an entry in a register but a unique and irreplaceable person” in the eyes of God.

Local authorities estimated the size of the crowd at 800,000, the Vatican said.

Six young men with Down syndrome were among the many altar servers assisting Leo during the celebration Sept. 26.

Numerous families with children sprawled on picnic blankets, babies slept in strollers, and gray-haired women sat in camp chairs as they waited for Mass to start.

Some Catholics described waiting four to five hours to try to catch a glimpse of Leo as he drove nearly two miles down the Avenue of Champs-Élysées in the popemobile on his way from the Arche de Triomphe to the altar at the Place de la Concorde. Priests heard confessions on the sidewalk along the famous avenue.

Once the site of one of the guillotines that decapitated more than 1,000 people during the French Revolution, including King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, the square was bathed in sunlight, the thick clouds of the morning having parted only 10 minutes before the start of Mass.

Jean Noizet, his parents, and five siblings ages 9 to 22 were among those who waited hours along the route for the papal Mass, traveling in from a Paris suburb.

The 15-year-old said his family wanted to show their unity with “all the Catholic Church.”

“From this beautiful city of Paris, I pray fervently that the living water of the Holy Spirit may flow throughout France,” Leo said in his homily.

“Seeing you gathered here … heirs to France’s long and beautiful history of faith, I say to you: Drink from the source that is the pierced heart of Jesus,” he said.

“Yes, you thirst for God, for life, for truth, for unity, for peace, for communion, and for happiness. You long to rediscover a horizon filled with light and to build a renewed nation upon roots nourished by faith.”

Thibault Lecauchois left home at 9 a.m. to travel two hours into the city for the Mass. He and his wife brought their 3-year-old daughter and 1-year-old son to see Pope Leo.

He told EWTN News the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see the pope in Paris was worth the challenges of the journey and waiting hours with two young children.

“We wanted the kids to have the blessing of the pope, and we wanted to share the moment with the rest of the community of Catholics,” he said, noting that his daughter was delighted and shouted “Pape Leon” when she saw him.

With tired kids, he was unsure they would be able to stay for the entire Mass, which started at 3 p.m. local time.

“I think he’s a pope of hope. I think a message of peace is very important nowadays, and Iʼm eager for him to show it to the rest of the world. And I think Paris is a very good place to do so.”

Lourdes

Following the Mass, Pope Leo embarked on the second leg of his trip, flying to Lourdes, at the foot of the Pyrénées in southwest France, where he will spend a day and half in prayer at the shrine where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, one of the most visited Catholic shrines in the world, draws more than 3 million people every year — many in search of miraculous physical healing.

The 136-acre property includes the Grotto of Massabielle, where a young St. Bernadette Soubirous saw 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary starting on Feb. 11, 1858. Today, pilgrims to the sanctuary drink and bathe in the healing water Mary revealed to Bernadette.

Pope Leo XIV arrived Saturday evening at the Lourdes shrine, which was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with cheering pilgrims from France and around the world.

His first stop was to the grotto of the apparitions for a brief prayer service, which began with a moment of private prayer. The loud and excited crowds fell completely silent as Leo knelt in prayer for nearly four minutes.

Leo touched the rock of the grotto and drank a glass of the shrine’s spring water. He placed a lit candle before the statue of the Virgin Mary.

“We pray to you, our Mother, for France, for you are her patroness and have protected her for so many centuries,” the pontiff prayed aloud.

“May the most disadvantaged and the poorest always be supported,” he said. “Obtain for France wise and generous leaders, ready to make sacrifices, capable of responding to challenges, and eager to serve the common good. May they keep France at peace within the family of nations, and may they make her voice heard in promoting the defense of fundamental human rights and peace in the world, rejecting the mentality of war once and for all.”

“Mother full of love, we entrust to you our most urgent personal intentions, especially those of the sick and suffering, as well as all those who accompany them, who have come together to find strength and healing at the spring of Massabielle,” Leo said.

He then honored the statue of the Immaculate Conception with a Golden Rose — one of the highest distinctions a pope can bestow upon a Marian image or shrine.

Follow the Live Updates of Pope Leo’s Trip in France available at EWTN News.

This article was originally published by EWTN News English.