Anuncio takes its faith into Paris crowds during Pope Leo’s visit
The Catholic movement used conversation, prayer and pop worship songs to approach passers-by as large crowds gathered for the pope’s first visit to the capital.
Members of the French Catholic organisation Anuncio went into the streets during Pope Leo XIV’s first visit to Paris, hoping to draw passers-by into conversations about faith. The outreach took place near crowds waiting to see the pope.
Anuncio members used paper fortune-tellers as ice-breakers, alongside conversation and offers of prayer. Before setting out, experienced members briefed newcomers on how to discuss their faith and invite people to share what they might want to pray about.
The group gathered to pray in the Church of Saint-Séverin before approaching people in the surrounding streets. Pop worship songs accompanied the prayer, and members later sang a French Catholic song among the crowds.
Anuncio focuses on evangelism and Christian culture, with members in several major French cities. Its approach is one effort to bring Catholic faith into public spaces; the report also notes that France has a long secular tradition and that Catholic affiliation has declined over decades.
About 80,000 young people gathered with Leo at the Stade de France on Friday evening, according to France 24. The report also cites Catholic Church figures of 13,000 adult and 8,000 teenage baptisms last Easter, while providing no methodology for those figures.
