Pope Leo XIV Prays for France at Lourdes Grotto After 800,000 Attend Paris Mass
Published
Pope Leo XIV arrived in Lourdes on Saturday evening and knelt in prayer for several minutes at the Grotto of the Apparitions, where he lit a candle and placed a golden rose. In a prayer entrusting France to Mary, he asked for "wise and generous leaders, ready to make sacrifices," and for a society "that banishes all violence and hatred." He prayed that the poorest always be supported and that France's leaders keep the country at peace, "rejecting the mentality of war once and for all." Earlier on Saturday, about 800,000 people attended his open-air Mass at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, the Vatican said.