Pope Leo XIV’s outdoor Mass in Paris: the eye-popping numbers

PARIS (AP) — Pope Leo XIV’s outdoor Mass on Saturday was a gargantuan undertaking.

Here, from organizers and the Paris police department, are some of the eye-popping numbers:

Nearly 600,000: people who registered to attend the Mass.

2,400: priests and deacons expected, plus about 100 bishops.

About 3 kilometers (nearly two miles): the length of the security zone closed to road traffic for the event, stretching from Place de la Concorde, up the Champs-Elysées and past the Arc de Triomphe at the top of the famous avenue.

Dozens: babies and young children that people brought out of the crowd to receive a papal caress on the head from Leo as he rode slowly down the Champs-Elysées aboard the popemobile.

4 meters (13 feet): the top-to-bottom length of a golden cross hung above the stage on Concorde Plaza.

14,500: police officers, gendarmes, military personnel and firefighters mobilized in Paris for the second day of the papal visit.

27 million: the expected cost of the visit in euros, equivalent to nearly $31 million, for the church.