Pope urges French bishops to ‘persevere’ against clerical sex abuse

Pope Leo XIV urged French bishops to continue their efforts to combat the "scourge" of clerical sex abuse during his recent visit to France. This marked the first official papal visit to the country in nearly two decades. During a private meeting in Lourdes, a pilgrimage town with deep Catholic roots, Pope Leo told the bishops that they had faced the painful issue of abuse committed by clergy or within the Church. He emphasized the importance of perseverance and vigilance in addressing the problem.

A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused approximately 330,000 minors in France over a 70-year period. The Pope later met with seven victims, now adults, to further efforts to reform the Church in light of the global sexual abuse scandal. Among them was an 80-year-old man who was abused at Notre-Dame de Betharram, a boarding school at the center of widespread accusations of physical and sexual abuse.

Catholic tradition, associated with Lourdes, states that the Virgin Mary appeared to a peasant girl in a grotto in 1858, making the modern-day sanctuary one of the world's most important Catholic holy sites, attracting around three million pilgrims annually. Pilgrims credit the site with miraculous healings.

Upon arriving in Lourdes, Pope Leo blessed the faithful with holy water, and enthusiastic worshippers gathered in a packed field near the sanctuary. He also addressed sick pilgrims, rejecting assisted dying, as the French parliament had legalized the practice in June for certain adults with incurable conditions. He stated that while what is legal is not necessarily moral, wise leaders should be elected to serve the common good, especially ahead of a presidential election with the far-right surging in popularity.