CBS reports based that an estimated 800,000 people attended Pope Leo XIV’s mass in Lourde’s France his first mass in that country in almost 2 decades.
The gigantic outdoor mass was held on Saturday and saw the iconic Champ Élysées Avenue flooded with the faithful.
The large attendance is a testament to the enduring influence of the church on the officially secular country even while church attendance has been on the decline particularly so in many countries in Europe.
