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From Chicago to Paris: Pope Leo XIV Draws 800,000 to the Heart of France
The first American pope, born Robert Prevost in Chicago, drew one of the largest crowds of his papacy to the Champs-Élysées for an open-air Mass—in one of Europe’s most secular countries. PARIS — A Chicago-born American stood at the center of one of Europe’s most famous avenues Saturday as an estimated 800,000 people filled central Paris for Pope Leo XIV, producing one of the largest gatherings of his young papacy. Crowds stretched along the Champs-Élysées as the pope traveled past the Arc de Triomphe before celebrating an outdoor Mass at Place de la Concorde. Reuters reported an estimated attendance of 800,000, while nearly 600,000 people had formally registered beforehand. For Chicago, the images carried an extraordinary significance. Before he was Pope Leo XIV, leader of the world’s roughly 1.4 billion Catholics, he was Robert Francis Prevost — born in Chicago, Illinois, on Sept. 14, 1955. According to his Vatican biography, he grew up in the Chicago area, attended St. Mary of the Assumption school and later studied theology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Today, that Chicago native is the 267th pope of the Catholic Church and the first American to hold the office. Chicago’s Pope Meets Paris The scale of Saturday’s reception offered a striking picture of how far Prevost’s life has traveled. From his childhood in the Chicago area, he entered the Augustinian order, became a missionary and bishop in Peru, led the worldwide Augustinian order and eventually served in the Vatican before being elected pope in 2025. Now, little more than a year into his pontificate, the American pope was moving through Paris surrounded by crowds extending through one of the most recognizable urban landscapes in the world. People shouted “Leo, Leo” as the pontiff traveled in the popemobile along the Champs-Élysées, The Star reported. The scenes were especially remarkable given France’s complicated relationship with Catholicism. The country maintains a strong tradition of laïcité, or secularism, and Catholic participation has declined substantially over generations. Yet interest in Leo’s visit exceeded expectations, according to the Associated Press. French authorities had prepared for enormous numbers. The Interior Ministry said before the visit that approximately one million faithful and visitors were expected in Paris over the pope’s two days in the capital, with roughly 15,000 security personnel mobilized. A Crowd Larger Than Expected The viral claim that “close to a million” people were gathered specifically at the Arc de Triomphe is somewhat broader than the official estimates. The most recent reporting puts attendance at Saturday’s outdoor Mass at about 800,000, spread through the Champs-Élysées and surrounding central Paris. The one-million estimate referred more broadly to the number of people French authorities expected during Leo’s two days of events in Paris. Even so, the turnout considerably exceeded the roughly 600,000 people who had registered for the Mass. It followed another extraordinary reception a day earlier. The Vatican press office reported that local authorities estimated approximately 300,000 people lined Leo’s route from UNESCO headquarters toward Notre-Dame Cathedral and gathered around the cathedral Friday. An American Pope on a European Stage Leo’s French journey is also historic in its own right. It is the first formal papal visit to France in nearly two decades and includes stops in Paris, Lourdes and Metz, according to Reuters. But Saturday’s images may become among the defining photographs of the trip: the Arc de Triomphe towering above a procession while immense crowds filled the avenue below. They also underline an unusual chapter in American Catholic history. The papacy, an institution whose origins stretch back nearly two millennia to Rome and the earliest Christian Church, is now led by a man born and educated thousands of miles away in Chicago. Leo has spent much of his adult life outside the United States, particularly in Peru and Rome, and his identity and ministry extend far beyond his birthplace. But Chicago remains an unmistakable part of his story. Even his allegiance to the city’s White Sox has followed him to Rome. Asked during his trip about the team’s fortunes, Leo again acknowledged his fandom while declining to take credit for its success, the National Catholic Reporter reported. On Saturday, however, baseball seemed very far away. Along the Champs-Élysées, hundreds of thousands gathered as Robert Prevost — the Chicagoan who became Pope Leo XIV — passed beneath the Arc de Triomphe as Bishop of Rome. For a city that has produced presidents, industrialists, artists, athletes and religious leaders, Chicago can now claim something unprecedented in American history: a pope whose journey began there and has now carried him before hundreds of thousands in the heart of Paris.