The Pope addresses crowds at the Eiffel Tower

Pope Aims for the Young on French Visit

Thousands of youthful pilgrims from 160 countries gathered in Paris to celebrate Pope John Paul's arrival. Earlier, the Pontiff was greeted at Orly Airport by the French President, Jacques Chirac, and his wife Bernadette.

President Chirac greets the Pope

There has been widespread concern about the 77 year-old Pontiff's health.

"Certainly he is tired," said Roger Etchegeray, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. "But meeting the young people will galvanise him. Past experiences show how he regains strength through his contact with youth."

The Pope has a packed schedule while in France. Shortly after arrival, he addressed thousands of people gathered at the Eiffel Tower.

The visit - his 79th trip abroad as Pope - will climax in a vast open air mass at the Longchamp racetrack. Organisers are confident that 500,000 worshippers will attend the mass.

But critics point out that such a number is tiny when compared with the last World Youth Days, held in The Philippines in 1995, when 4 million people were present.

The most controversial aspect of the Pope's tour is his planned visit on Friday to the grave of a well-known anti-abortion activist.

The Pope will make a controversial visit to the grave of Jerome Lejeune

Jerome Lejeune, a genetics professor revered by anti-abortion groups, died in 1994. The Pope, who was a good friend of the Professor, will be accompanied by Lejeune's relatives.

Pro-choice groups and some left-wing politicians say the visit is a challenge to the French parliament, which legalised abortion more than 20 years ago. They say the Pope's presence offers encouragement to increasingly militant anti-abortion activists.

Young pilgrims show their religious fervour

Shortly before the Pope's arrival, a group of anti-abortionists held a noisy demonstration at the Broussais Hospital in Paris. This followed a similar demonstration on Wednesday by a group who called themselves "young survivors of abortion".

Opinion polls conducted in France this week reveal that most people feel the Pope is out of touch with young people. Sixty per cent of respondents to one poll described the Pope as "conservative" or "retrograde".