Pope Benedict XVI, left, is shown a leaflet by chancellor of the French Institute, Gabriel de Broglie, during a visit to the institute in Paris on Saturday. (Jacques Brinon/Associated Press)Pope Benedict XVI, on a visit to Paris Saturday, said people in modern society seem to be worshipping wealth and ignoring spiritual values.

"Has not our modern world created its own idols?" the Roman Catholic leader said in a homily on his second day in the French capital.

"Has it not imitated, perhaps inadvertently, the pagans of antiquity, by diverting man from his true end, from the joy of living eternally with God?" he asked.

The pontiff also quoted the writings of St. Paul, saying "money is the root of all evil" and added in his own words: "Have not money, the thirst for possessions, for power and even for knowledge, diverted man from his true destiny?"

Pope Benedict, 81, was speaking during an open-air mass before about 260,000 people who gathered on the lawns of the Esplanade des Invalides.

After leading the mass, he flew to Lourdes in the south of France for commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the Vatican-recognized apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a peasant girl.

The Pope arrived in the country Friday for a four-day visit, his first to staunchly secular France since his election in 2005.

Like other secular European nations, France has seen a steady decline in the number of churchgoers and priests.

According to recent polls, while two-thirds of French citizens consider themselves Catholic, only about 10 per cent attend church services.