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This video can not be played       Figure caption,  Watch: Pope Leo XIV arrives in Paris for four-day visit       By Hugh Schofield in Paris      Published 25 September 2026, 00:17 BST        Updated 42 minutes ago       Pope Leo XIV has issued a warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) at the start of his four-day visit to France.  The pontiff cautioned against "losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines" in wide-ranging remarks to Church and state officials at the Élysée Palace, following an hour of talks with President Emmanuel Macron. The highpoint of his visit is set to be a giant Mass attended by more than half a million people in Paris on Saturday, for which an altar has been built on the Place de la Concorde and a large area around the Champs-Élysées sealed off by police. Large crowds expected throughout the trip, reflecting an enthusiasm that the Church attributes to growing spirituality among the French and other Europeans. He was greeted at Orly airport early on Friday by Marcon, with the pair expected to deliver a speech later in the day in Metz. Crowds were meanwhile gathering along a route to the Notre Dame, where the pontiff will later be driven in his popemobile. The president will not be at any of the Pope's Masses, largely to avoid breaching France's strict separation of state and religion. Instead, the Champs-Élysées Mass will be attended by his wife Brigitte and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. Several candidates for next year's presidential election are also due, including Marine Le Pen of the nationalist right, centrists Edouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal, and conservative Bruno Retailleau. There were reports of tensions between Macron and the Vatican team sent to make arrangements, with the president allegedly frustrated in his wish for a more ceremonial aspect to the visit.      (Pope in centre, with a waving Macron on his right and Brigitte Macron on his left. There is a French guard standing on either end of the picture.)    Image source,  EPA  Image caption,  The Pope was welcomed at the Elysee Palace after landing on Friday       This was dismissed this week by Élysée officials, who said it was customary to offer a visiting head of state – which the Pope is – a range of high-profile events, such as a cavalry escort down the Champs-Élysées. But they said it was never expected that the Pope would actually take the offer up. They did confirm that Pope Leo turned down Macron's idea of a meeting with artisans who helped rebuild the fire-devastated Notre-Dame cathedral. This was because his agenda was too tight, they said. After a Popemobile ride through crowds to Notre-Dame cathedral on Friday afternoon, Pope Leo XIV will be joined in the evening by 80,000 young people at the Stade de France in northern Paris. On Sunday 150,000 have signed up to attend mass in the Pyrenean sanctuary of Lourdes.      (Two workers, a man and a woman dressed in navy polo shirts and shorts, move cardboard boxes off a trolley in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.)    Image source,  AFP via Getty Images  Image caption,  Preparations are taking place in Lourdes ahead of the visit       On Monday the Pope will be in Metz, in northeast France, where he will pay tribute to Robert Schuman (1886-1963), a founding father of the European Union and a fervent Catholic who is today a candidate for beatification. The Pope will also meet a group of migrants in Paris, and in Lourdes some victims of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy. Born in Chicago in 1955, Pope Leo XIV was originally called Robert Prevost – a French name.  In fact his paternal grandmother was born in Le Havre in Normandy in 1894. When she married in the US many years later she and her Italian husband took the name Prevost, which had been her mother's maiden-name. France has a historically complex relationship with the Catholic Church of Rome.  The country was long known as the "Eldest Daughter of the Church" because supposedly, but inaccurately, it was the first kingdom to convert to Christianity. Actually Armenia, Georgia and Ethiopia preceded it. In the 14th Century the papacy came in exile to Avignon in southern France, and over following centuries French armies periodically intervened in Italian politics, where popes were secular rulers as well as heads of the Church.  Napoleon held two popes in captivity. Recent popes have all come to France, most notably John-Paul II, who came several times between 1980 and 2004, and Pope Francis who came three times, but avoided Paris, going instead to Strasbourg, Marseilles and Corsica.      (Pope John Paul II, wearing a red floor-length cape and pictured from the back, addresses a crowd of people in front of the Eiffel Tower in June 1980.)    Image source,  Getty Images  Image caption,  Pope John Paul II, pictured here in Paris in 1980, visited many times       Today France has secularised with the rest of Europe, and less than half of the population identifies as Catholic. The number of regular worshippers has fallen from 35% of the population in 1960 to less than 5% today, while the number of priests has shrunk by two-thirds from 25,000 in 1990 to fewer than 9,000. But in recent years there have been signs of a growing interest in religious tradition, with the number of adult baptisms more than doubling in five years to hit 10,000 in 2025. "France has indeed secularised, but there is a void where God and values used to be," said Cardinal François Bustillo, Bishop of Ajaccio. "People are searching for something. Maybe they go to India or Tibet or the Amazon. And now the Pope comes here from Rome, bringing a reminder to people of their own roots. "It was John-Paul II who awoke the East. Now Leo XIV will awake the West," he said.      (A thin, grey banner promoting the News Daily newsletter. On the right, there is a graphic of an orange sphere with two concentric crescent shapes around it in a red-orange gradient, like a sound wave. The banner reads: “The latest news in your inbox first thing.”)         Get our flagship newsletter with all the headlines you need to start the day. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsletters/zhp28xs) Sign up here.      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