Pope to young people: ‘The light of the Spirit enlightens and comforts'

Jean-Charles Putzolu – Paris The Stade de France, the largest stadium in France, hadn’t seen such a gathering since it opened in 1998. With a capacity of 80,000, it was packed on Friday evening for Pope Leo XIV’s vigil with young people from Paris and across France. They showed up in all their diversity: Rural and urban, workers, students, young professionals and manual workers, united by their faith and their desire to hear the Pope’s words. The evening began with a festive programme of testimonies, songs and artistic performances. The young people moved from celebration to Caccini’s Ave Maria, sung by Monroe and 2,500 choristers. In his welcome to Leo XIV as he arrived in the stadium, Bishop Etienne Guillet described it as the ‘stadium of all France’, highlighting the cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic and multicultural character of his diocese and of the 80,000 young people gathered there.