Pope Leo XIV is set to meet seven victims of clerical sexual abuse in France on Sunday as he continues his four-day official visit to the country, with the private meeting expected to highlight the Catholic Church’s efforts to address its longstanding abuse crisis.
The pontiff arrived in Lourdes on Saturday evening after celebrating an open-air mass in Paris, where he addressed thousands of worshippers during his first official papal visit to France.
The meeting with the survivors is part of Leo’s efforts to advance reforms in the Church following the global sexual abuse scandal.
One of those expected to meet him is a former pupil of the Notre-Dame de Betharram institution, a nearby boarding school that has faced widespread allegations of physical and sexual abuse spanning several decades.
A 2021 inquiry found that about 330,000 people were abused as minors by clergy or lay members of the Church in France over a period of 70 years.
Domitille Bardoul, 26, who travelled from Paris to Lourdes, said she welcomed the Pope’s decision to meet survivors.
“It’s very beautiful that the pope is going to listen to them,” she said.
“For me, it’s also a way of acknowledging that every possible measure is being taken to prevent this kind of abuse.”
Leo’s visit comes nearly two decades after the last official papal visit to France. He is the third pope to visit Lourdes, following Pope Benedict XVI in 2008 and Pope John Paul II, who visited the pilgrimage town in 1983 and 2004.
The sanctuary, located at the foot of the Pyrenees, is one of the world’s major Catholic pilgrimage sites and attracts about three million visitors annually. Believers associate the site with miraculous healings.
On Saturday, Leo celebrated mass at Paris’s Place de la Concorde, drawing a large crowd that extended along the Champs-Elysees and surrounding streets. Vatican figures estimated that about 800,000 people attended.
“It is truly good and pleasant when brothers and sisters come together and glorify the greatness of God,” the Pope said.
Among those in attendance was Aline Riziki, 41, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has lived in France for 11 years.
“It’s one time in history to see the pope,” Riziki said.
“I dropped everything to come here and see him, to pray for peace in the east” of her homeland, racked by conflict for decades, she added.
Leo’s visit comes seven months before France’s presidential election, with immigration among the major issues in the political debate. Several presidential hopefuls, including far-right leader Marine Le Pen and centrist Edouard Philippe, attended Saturday’s mass.
President Emmanuel Macron was represented by his wife, Brigitte, while the French leader said in a message on X that the country was “proud to welcome Pope Leo XIV and this monumental mass in the heart of Paris”.
During his visit, Leo also prayed to the Virgin Mary for France to have “wise and generous leaders… eager to serve the common good”.
He further called for France’s “voice heard in promoting the defence of fundamental human rights and peace in the world, rejecting the mentality of war once and for all.”
