Pope Leo XIV addressed a gathering of approximately 150,000 people near the Catholic shrine of Lourdes on Sunday, calling on the Church to acknowledge and work toward healing from internal failings. The pontiff did not explicitly reference documented cases of child sexual abuse within French Catholic institutions, which reports indicate affected at least 330,000 children over a seven-decade period.
Following his morning mass at Lourdes, the pope met privately with seven survivors of child sexual abuse perpetrated by French clergy. The survivors indicated that the pontiff listened to their accounts, demonstrated awareness of their individual cases, and acknowledged that additional efforts were necessary to address the abuse crisis. Five of the seven survivors subsequently held a press conference in Lourdes to discuss the meeting.
During his homily, the pope articulated the Church’s teaching against medically assisted dying, characterizing such practices as morally wrong. His comments followed France’s recent adoption of legislation permitting “aid in dying” for incurably ill adults, making the country one of a small number of nations with such laws.
The visit takes place against the backdrop of significant institutional reckoning with abuse allegations. A landmark independent inquiry released in 2021 found that sexual violence against children by priests and other Catholic figures was concealed through systematic practices within the Church. Recently, approximately 2,000 individuals have filed claims seeking reparations from French Catholic institutions. The mosaics of artist Marko Rupnik, currently on trial in a Vatican court on allegations of abuse, were covered at the Lourdes shrine ahead of the papal visit. Some survivor groups published an open letter expressing skepticism about the visit’s potential for meaningful change.
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