During his visit to France, Pope Leo XIV was seen blessing Marie-Garance, a child with disabilities, while walking along the Champs-Élysées in front of a large crowd. According to Le Parisien, the pope stopped to embrace Marie-Garance, who was carried by a Vatican gendarme and blessed by the pontiff, who drew a cross on her forehead before embracing her. Marie-Garance was welcomed at the age of 16 months by Clotilde and Nicolas Noël, parents of a family of ten children, several of whom were adopted and have disabilities. Her biological parents, unable to provide the significant care she required, had entrusted her to the state's protection. The Noël couple had already adopted a girl with Down syndrome before welcoming Marie-Garance, then two other children with various conditions. Clotilde Noël, the mother of Marie-Garance, described the moment as a "miracle" and a "suspended moment" during her walk with approximately 800,000 believers to reach the Concorde on Saturday, September 26. She recounted the event on BFMTV, stating that the encounter was "absolutely not planned." She explained that she was waiting for the pope in a place designated for people with limited mobility with her two daughters when the people around them began to say "the pope needs to see these two little girls in wheelchairs." She described how the people around them connected with volunteers, leading to the event happening "extremely quickly," emphasizing "the strength of the collective" to show the world what has been hidden for years. Marie-Garance was carried from hand to hand until she reached the pope's hands. Her blessing led to a photo in which the gazes of Leo XIV and the little girl cross. Clotilde Noël commented on how, when Marie-Garance was carried, she had "this abandonment, it is an offering she makes to the world, she is not afraid," and she felt a "strong connection between the Pope and her." She described feeling "a shiver in the crowd, a suspended moment, like a breath, a third lung, a possibility, a light on these children who are unfortunately not welcomed." She added that "this shiver that seized everyone is the part of the miracle." Clotilde Noël described the event as a "collective blessing," stating that it was not only her daughter who was blessed but also "all these children from the Social Assistance to Children, all these abandoned children, all these disabled children, all these children in hospitals." She also mentioned that it was a blessing for the biological parents of Marie-Garance, who was born on X. She praised the reaction of the people around them during this moment, who were "collectively happy," and expressed hope that the photo would continue to move people, that it "will have an impact" and that it will not be "a simple media agitation."