# Why did 700,000 people turn out for Pope Leo in secular France?

https://mins.news/en/video/75386

- DW News, 2026-09-26 16:11 UTC
- Culture
- Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrp45LlvKUo

> Pope Leo XIV’s open-air Mass in central Paris drew an estimated 700,000 people. Crowds filled the Champs-Élysées as he travelled by popemobile to Place de la Concorde, a site closely tied to the French Republic, prompting debate in a country where Catholic affiliation has declined for decades and secularism is a strict tradition.

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