LOURDES, France — Pope Leo XIV held a private meeting with seven survivors of clerical sexual abuse at Lourdes on Sunday, reaffirming his commitment to ensuring that the harm they endured is never repeated, the Vatican said.
The pope met each survivor — four men and three women — individually and privately over two hours at the bishop’s residence near the Marian shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, listening to their stories, their pain and their proposals to ensure it never happens again, according to a Vatican statement reported by Reuters. He then met with them together, thanked them for their “painful testimony,” and reaffirmed his commitment to ending abuse by priests in the Catholic Church.
The survivors had experienced abuse across various settings, including parishes, boarding schools, religious congregations and ecclesial movements, according to Catholic News World. They were accompanied by Bishop Gérard Le Stang of Amiens, president of the French bishops’ conference council for the prevention of pedophilia.
Several survivors praised the encounter afterward. “It was extraordinary,” said survivor Jean-Marie Delbos at a press conference, saying the pope listened and was informed about their cases, the AP reported. “I never thought I would have a pope before me.” Before the meeting, the survivors wrote in a statement: “Dialogue is not endorsement.”
Earlier Sunday, Leo urged France’s bishops to maintain “the greatest vigilance” against “the painful scourge of abuse committed against minors by members of the clergy,” and he celebrated Mass before some 150,000 pilgrims on the prairie next to Lourdes’ main basilica. The visit follows the crushing 2021 report on abuse of children by French priests that sparked nationwide shock, according to Reuters.
Leo is on a whirlwind three-city, four-day visit to France, during which he also condemned the legalization of medically assisted death as immoral “false compassion,” the AP reported. He departs for Metz on Monday for the final day of the journey.