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Paris prepares for Mass with Pope Pope celebrates huge Paris Mass
(about 9 hours later)
Some 200,000 Catholics are expected in central Paris for an open-air mass presided over by Pope Benedict XVI on his first official visit to France. Around 250,000 worshippers have turned out to hear Pope Benedict XVI celebrate an open-air mass in Paris.
As part of his four-day trip, the Pope will celebrate Mass at Les Invalides. Many people spent the night at the Invalides complex, south of the river Seine in the French capital, waiting to hear him speak.
He will later fly to the shrine of Lourdes for the 150th anniversary of the pilgrimage site. It is the pontiff's first visit to France since his election in 2005.
Later, the Pope will fly to the pilgrimage site of Lourdes, where the faithful believe the Virgin Mary appeared to a young girl 150 years ago.
France is a Roman Catholic country, but Sunday Mass attendance is now below 10% and strict laws separate church and state.
'Pagan' idols
The Pope told the crowds he was delighted to be in their country, before going on to condemn what he described as a modern-day plague in the passion for power, possessions and money.
"Has not our modern world created its own idols?" he said in his address.
"Has it not imitated, perhaps inadvertently, the pagans of antiquity, by diverting man from his true end, from the joy of living eternally with God," he asked.
The German-born pope has received a warm welcome He then added: "Have not money, the thirst for possessions, for power and even for knowledge, diverted man from his true destiny?"
Arriving in Paris on Friday, the Pope was met by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whom he praised for promoting the role of religion in society.Arriving in Paris on Friday, the Pope was met by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whom he praised for promoting the role of religion in society.
France staunchly upholds a 1905 law that enshrines the separation of Church and state, but Mr Sarkozy has supported efforts to ease the country's strict secularism law.France staunchly upholds a 1905 law that enshrines the separation of Church and state, but Mr Sarkozy has supported efforts to ease the country's strict secularism law.
Positive papal poll The opposition Socialists are furious, saying that it is the first time in French history that a pope and a president have shared common politics.
The Pontiff attended a service at Notre Dame Cathedral on Friday, before meeting representatives of France's Jewish and Muslim communities. Nonetheless, the German-born pontiff has received a warm welcome, says the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris.
While Catholicism remains by far the country's main religion, France is also home to Europe's biggest Muslim and Jewish communities. Before his visit, a French newspaper poll showed that more than half of those questioned had a positive view of Benedict XVI.
The Pope was met by the French president at Orly airport
In a speech to leading cultural figures, the 81-year-old Pope urged the French people not to sweep aside their Christian heritage.
"What gave Europe's culture its foundation - the search for God and the readiness to listen to him - remains today the basis of any genuine culture," he said in fluent French.
Although church attendance and vocations to the priesthood are falling in France, the German-born pontiff has received a warm welcome, says the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris.
Before his visit, a French newspaper poll showed that more than half of those questioned had a positive view of Benedict XVI, who was elected Pope in 2005.
Security arrangements are tight for the trip, with more than 9,200 French police officers deployed.