People wait for Pope Leo XIV on the Champs Elysees avenue before a mass at Place de la Concorde in Paris, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)
Republished September 26, 2026 - 5:45 AM
Original Publication Date September 26, 2026 - 5:06 AM
PARIS (AP) — Pope Leo XIV's outdoor Mass on Saturday was a gargantuan undertaking.
Here, from organizers and the Paris police department, are some of the eye-popping numbers:
Nearly 600,000: people who registered to attend the Mass.
2,400: priests and deacons expected, plus about 100 bishops.
About 3 kilometers (nearly two miles): the length of the security zone closed to road traffic for the event, stretching from Place de la Concorde, up the Champs-Elysées and past the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the famous avenue.
Dozens: babies and young children that people brought out of the crowd to receive a papal caress on the head from Leo as he rode slowly down the Champs-Elysées aboard the popemobile.
4 meters (13 feet): the top-to-bottom length of a golden cross hung above the stage on Concorde Plaza.
14,500: police officers, gendarmes, military personnel and firefighters mobilized in Paris for the second day of the papal visit.
27 million: the expected cost of the visit in euros, equivalent to nearly $31 million, for the church.
News from © The Associated Press, 2026