Pope promises to protect French sex abuse victims

Pope Leo XIV met with seven French survivors of clerical sex abuse on Sunday during his four-day visit to France. According to the Jerusalem Post, the pope heard their proposals for improving the Church's safeguarding measures and reaffirmed his commitment to preventing further harm. The survivors described the meeting as emotional and touching, and said they felt listened to by the pontiff.

The pope also met with French bishops, praising their efforts to address sexual abuse while urging them to remain vigilant, as reported by Euronews and IOL. He told the bishops that they had taken courageous measures to respond to the abuse, but must persevere along the path they had begun, maintaining the greatest vigilance. A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 minors in France over 70 years.

In a homily during an open-air Mass in Lourdes, Pope Leo urged the Church to acknowledge its failings and confront sexual abuse, as reported by Euronews. He said the Church must have the courage to be the first to undergo conversion and take responsibility for wrongdoing within its ranks. The pope's visit to France is the first official papal visit in nearly two decades.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria, Jerusalem Post, Euronews, PBS NewsHour, IOL — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.