Pope Leo holds Lourdes mass and prepares to meet abuse survivors

Pope Leo is on the third day of his four-day state visit to France, the first papal visit to the country in 18 years. He arrived at Orly Airport on Friday and was greeted by President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron before travelling to the Élysée Palace. The visit is taking in Paris, Lourdes and Metz. France's strict separation of church and state means President Macron does not attend religious services, though Brigitte Macron attended the Paris mass.

At the Élysée, Macron called the visit an honour that inspired hope and appealed for greater religious tolerance. Pope Leo echoed concerns about diversity and warned about the ethical risks of artificial intelligence, saying humanity risked losing itself amid a 'paradise of machines'. He said it was urgent to train minds in ethical discernment and to keep human dignity at the centre of technological change.

At UNESCO, the Pope used his keynote speech to expand on those themes. He said new technologies must serve the human person rather than become instruments of domination and injustice. He called for particular attention to the protection of children and young people in the digital age, saying their vulnerability must never become an opportunity for exploitation. He warned that AI could enslave humanity through algorithms that commodify people, put huge power in the hands of a few, and reduce war to something like a video game.

The first day also included a service at Notre Dame Cathedral, recently restored after the 2019 fire, and a gathering with tens of thousands of young people at the Stade de France. The Pope said Notre Dame felt like a place where heaven and earth met. His visit has drawn attention in a country where regular church attendance has fallen sharply, but where the Church says adult baptisms have risen in recent years. Reports put adult baptisms up by 28 per cent over five years, and some events sold out quickly.

On Saturday, Pope Leo celebrated an open-air mass in central Paris at the Place de la Concorde and along the Champs-Élysées. The Vatican estimated that about 700,000 people attended, while earlier figures suggested around 600,000 had registered. The Pope travelled in his popemobile and blessed children in the crowds. In his homily, he told French believers they longed to rediscover a horizon filled with light and urged them not to keep their faith to themselves. He also visited a centre for migrants and refugees, where he said it was possible to encounter one another and live together in dignity and peace.

Security for the visit has been heavy, with about 15,000 police and soldiers deployed in Paris. The visit has a political dimension. Pope Leo has opposed France's assisted dying law and used his remarks to say the right to life is the basis of all human rights. He has also been seen by some French commentators as offering an alternative voice to Donald Trump and J.D. Vance on migration and other issues, and he has said Catholicism should not be used by any political party.

Pope Leo travelled to Lourdes in south-west France for the third day of the trip. He prayed in the grotto where the Virgin Mary is believed to have appeared in the 19th century and held mass in the pilgrimage town. He is expected to meet seven survivors of clerical sexual abuse privately. The meeting comes after a major abuse scandal in France, including a 2021 report that estimated about 300,000 children had been abused by the Catholic Church over 70 years. Lourdes is also near Bétharram, the site of a school abuse scandal that has been widely reported in France. Some survivors' groups have questioned how the seven participants were chosen.

After Lourdes, the Pope is due to travel to Metz near the German border on Monday, giving the visit a European dimension. The trip is the latest in a series of international journeys by Pope Leo. It has combined public spectacle, private pastoral encounters and a sharp message on artificial intelligence, human dignity and abuse reform.