PARIS — Pope Leo arrived in France on Friday for a whirlwind four-day visit, saying he wished to be a pilgrim of peace for a world at war on a trip during which he is also hoping to repair the Catholic Church’s standing after abuse scandals.
Leo is also set to renew calls for global rules on AI development, while laying out a vision for Europe’s future during his visit, which includes stops in Paris, at the famed Catholic shrine at Lourdes, in the southwest, and in Metz, on the German border.
Telling reporters on the plane to Paris that he was coming to convey a message of peace, Leo added: “It is a message which at this time, as we all may know, is particularly important.”
Some 600,000 people have registered to join an outdoor mass in central Paris with Leo on Saturday, with throngs expected to stretch down the famed Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Some 37,000 security forces would be deployed to secure the events, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on French broadcaster TF1.
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