Pope Leo XIV calls on church to heal wounds ahead of meeting abuse survivors in Lourdes
During his visit to France, Pope Leo XIV urged the Catholic church to confront its past ahead of a private meeting with seven survivors of clerical child sexual abuse in Lourdes. It is the first papal visit to France in 18 years.
Pope Leo XIV addressed a crowd of an estimated 150,000 people in Lourdes on Sunday, calling on the Catholic church to confront its past and heal what he described as "deep wounds" and "painful errors." He did not directly reference the sexual abuse scandals in France, which a landmark inquiry found affected at least 330,000 children over seven decades.
Earlier that day, meeting with French bishops, Leo acknowledged the church had acted with determination against abuse committed by clergy against minors, urging bishops to continue on this path with the greatest vigilance.
After leading an open-air mass, the pope was scheduled to privately meet seven survivors of child sexual abuse by French clergy, including a former pupil of the Notre-Dame de Bétharram boarding school, linked to what is considered the largest known child sexual abuse scandal at a school in French history.
Rupnik case and past scandals
Arriving in Lourdes, the pope passed boarded-up mosaics created by Jesuit priest Marko Rupnik, who is accused by more than two dozen women of psychological, spiritual and sexual abuse spanning three decades. Rupnik is currently on trial in a Vatican court, and the bishop of Lourdes ordered his works covered so that abuse survivors seeking solace at the shrine would not have to see them.
Last week, France's Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation announced that about 2,000 people who reported abuse by clergy or church representatives are seeking reparations. France's Catholic bishops conference agreed to provide compensation following a 2021 report that found abuse was covered up in a systemic way within the church.
On the day of the pope's arrival, survivors published an open letter in the newspaper Libération expressing fears the visit would change nothing, criticizing that the seven survivors meeting the pope were "carefully selected" by the church rather than chosen by survivors' groups.
Lourdes, one of the world's most important Catholic sites, attracts 3 million pilgrims annually. The pope's visit has caused accommodation prices to surge, with some one-night hotel stays reportedly exceeding €2,000.
