Pope meets victims of sex abuse, urges ‘wise leaders’ as French election looms

Pope Leo gathered believers at a mass in Lourdes, a French pilgrimage town, where he planned to meet victims of clerical sexual abuse on the third day of his official visit to France. The 71-year-old pontiff is on a four-day trip to the secular country, marking the first papal visit there in nearly two decades. Pope Leo, the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, will meet privately with seven abuse survivors after promising to continue efforts to reform the Church following the global sexual abuse scandal.

Domitille Bardoul, a 26-year-old survivor, arrived early to wait for prayers in the town located in the southwestern Pyrenees. She expressed her gratitude for the Pope's willingness to listen to the survivors, emphasizing that it demonstrates a commitment to preventing such abuses. A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused approximately 330,000 people as minors in France over a 70-year period.

Among the victims meeting the Pope are former students of the Notre-Dame de Betharram boarding school, which has faced accusations of physical and sexual abuse over several decades. Prior to his visit, Pope Leo led enthusiastic worshippers in a mass at Paris's Place de la Concorde. The huge open-air mass in the French capital preceded his arrival in Lourdes.

As the presidential election approaches, the Pope prayed for "wise and generous leaders" in his prayers for the French people.