Pope Leo Urges Church to Face Failings Before Meeting French Abuse Survivors
By Joshua McElwee
LOURDES, France, Sept 27 (Reuters) — Pope Leo on Sunday urged the Catholic Church to admit its own failings and heal the “deep wounds” inflicted within its ranks, speaking to a vast crowd here hours before he was scheduled to meet with victims of child abuse by priests in France.
Addressing an estimated 150,000 people gathered under bright skies near the famed Catholic shrine in Lourdes, Leo said the Church must have the courage to face its past. He did not directly mention the abuse scandals that have shaken France, though the issue shadowed his visit and was expected to be central to his private encounter with survivors later in the day.
“In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors that have occurred within the Church, we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze,” the first U.S. pope said.
The visit to France — a whirlwind, four-day trip across three cities — has mixed pastoral spectacle with moral appeals. On Saturday, Leo drew roughly 800,000 people to an outdoor Mass on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. He has also used the trip to urge the world to reconsider the development of artificial intelligence, a theme he has returned to repeatedly during his papacy.
For French Church leaders, the stakes are especially high. A 2021 report found that about 330,000 French children had been abused by Catholic clergy and lay leaders over seven decades, a reckoning that deeply damaged the Church’s standing in a country long shaped by Catholic tradition. Bishops hope Leo’s presence can help repair trust, but they also face pressure to show that words will be followed by accountability.
In a closed-door meeting with French bishops earlier Sunday, Leo directly referred to “the painful scourge of abuse committed against minors by members of the clergy,” according to a Vatican-provided text. He thanked the bishops for what he called the “courageous measures” they had taken to confront the scandals, while urging them to strengthen safeguarding efforts and “continue on the path undertaken, maintaining the greatest vigilance.”
Survivors Wary of Quick Change
Leo has apologized directly for abuse scandals that have damaged the Church’s credibility worldwide. During a trip to Spain in June, he told bishops they must listen to survivors and offer reparations. Later on Sunday, he was due to hold a closed-door meeting with seven French victims of abuse by clergy.
Some survivors said they doubted the encounter would produce rapid changes. “I am quite skeptical that the pope will solve the issue, at least not immediately,” Michèle Le Reun-Gaigné, co-president of an association for survivors in western France, told Reuters. “Things are moving very slowly,” she said. “It isn’t going to happen overnight.”
Bishop Pierre-Antoine Bozo, a spokesperson for the French bishops, said the pope’s desire to hold the meeting “shows that we cannot ignore this issue and that it must always remain among our concerns.”
The setting itself carries layered symbolism. Lourdes, a town in the foothills of the Pyrenees, draws about 3 million pilgrims a year to a shrine to the Virgin Mary and its purported healing spring waters. Leo’s itinerary includes six events there.
But the shrine is also linked to a scandal that has dogged the Vatican in recent years. Its facade features a series of tall mosaics by Rev. Marko Rupnik, a prominent religious artist with Vatican ties who has been accused of sexual abuse. More than 20 women have accused Rupnik; he is not known to have commented publicly on the allegations. Five of his alleged victims wrote an open letter to the pope on Thursday, sharply criticizing an ongoing Vatican trial of the cleric.
For the pope’s visit, the mosaics have been covered with large, muted yellow tarps. As Leo arrived for Mass on Sunday, his open-top popemobile passed near the shrine’s facade and the concealed artwork.
Earlier in the trip, Leo sharply reiterated Catholic opposition to assisted dying initiatives. The remarks came two months after France created a legal right to die for those with incurable illnesses. In Lourdes, he again emphasized the Church’s pro-life stance, saying the shrine’s welcome for sick pilgrims hoping for a miracle in its waters stood opposed to “current trends that seek to redefine the value of human life in illness.”
Reporting by Joshua McElwee and Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Alex Richardson