Pope Leo XIV to visit France in September, plans meeting with abuse survivors

The Vatican announced on Friday that Pope Leo XIV will travel to France from September 25 to 28 for a four-day visit that will include a meeting with survivors of clergy sexual abuse. A separate statement noted that the survivors themselves will help prepare the meeting, with the exact time and location to be announced later.

In June, during his trip to Spain, Leo already met with six abuse survivors in a country where the Catholic hierarchy has only recently begun confronting the scale of abuse and its cover-up. In France, a 2021 report estimated that around 330,000 children were sexually abused by church personnel over a 70-year period. Last month, the pope appointed French Bishop Thibault Verny to lead the Vatican's child protection advisory commission, signaling his continued commitment to addressing clergy abuse.

Itinerary

Confirmed back in May, the September trip will be Leo's fourth foreign journey this year, following visits to Monaco, four African nations, and Spain with the Canary Islands. The Vatican also confirmed this week that Leo will make his first trip to Latin America as pope in November, visiting Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, where he had served as a missionary for more than three decades.

Leo will begin the France visit in Paris, meeting President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace and delivering an address at UNESCO headquarters, followed by an evening service at Notre-Dame Cathedral. On the second day he will visit a social support center and meet with lay Catholic representatives before traveling to Lourdes, one of Catholicism's most significant pilgrimage sites. The visit will conclude in Metz, near the French, German and Luxembourg borders, where he will take part in an interreligious gathering.