Pope draws huge crowd in Paris
The Associated Press, Paris | Sat, 09/13/2008 3:54 PM
Tens of thousands of faithful have turned out for Pope Benedict XVI's outdoor Mass in Paris, his only public appearance Saturday before he flies to Lourdes to make a pilgrimage to the shrine which draws millions of pilgrims each year. (AP/Laurent Rebours) More than 200,000 people turned out in Paris for Pope Benedict XVI's outdoor Mass on Saturday morning - a jubilant outpouring of faith in a Roman Catholic country that has seen a sharp decline in churchgoing in recent years.
Altar boys in white cassocks snapped photos and parents lifted children out of strollers to catch a glimpse of the pontiff as he arrived in a popemobile at L'Esplanade des Invalides, a vast expanse of lawn not far from the Seine River.
The crowd sent up a cheer when the pope opened the Mass by speaking about "beautiful Paris."
Aides held the pontiff's ivory-colored robes as he ascended the wooden steps toward an altar on a canopied platform.
The late-morning Mass was Benedict's only public appearance Saturday before he flies to Lourdes to make a pilgrimage to the shrine that draws millions of pilgrims each year.
Benedict was expected to give a kind of papal pep talk to the faithful at Mass.
Although traditionally Roman Catholic, France has seen a decline in churchgoing in the last decades, with most French skipping the Sunday requirement to attend Mass.
Paris police estimated the crowd at some 220,000 people.
Tens of thousands of faithful, many of them young people, had camped out on the field overnight after hearing greetings from the pope Friday night as he left a prayer service in Notre Dame. He is making a four-day sojourn in France, his first visit to the country since becoming pontiff in 2005.
"It's not every day that we have the opportunity to pray with the pope. We couldn't miss it," said Muriel Amortila, a 47-year-old physical therapist from Normandy who woke at 3 a.m. (0100GMT) with her three children to come attend the Mass in the French capital.
On Friday night, Benedict told young Roman Catholics outside Notre Dame that they shouldn't fear spreading their faith. These days in France, with secularism entrenched and Islam growing, that's easier said than done.
Fear, frustration and misunderstanding over religion - not just Catholic - run deep in French society. Three Jewish boys in skullcaps were treated for fractures and bruises after a suspected anti-Semitic brawl that started with one getting hit by a tossed walnut last week. Benedict met with Jewish leaders on Friday and condemned all forms of anti-Semitism.
France is home to Western Europe's largest populations of Muslims and Jews. While most French are Catholic at least by tradition - if not in practice - the old yarn is that most go to church three times in their lifetimes: at their baptism, wedding and funeral.
France also has another religion, "laicite" or secularism, a fervent belief that faith and the state should be kept strictly separate.
Benedict and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who held talks Friday, spoke publicly of the contribution religion can make to forging an ethical society.
"They say that Catholics in France are fewer and fewer, and less devoted. But you can see here that is not true," said Robert Pavilla, a 58-year-old school groundskeeper, gesturing toward the throngs of people streaming onto the esplanade.
The sun shone off the gilded dome of Napoleon's resting place as huge screens projected images of the ceremony for those too far back in the crowd for a good view of the pope.
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|