{
  "id": 10181948,
  "title": "Pope to meet victims of clerical sex abuse on France trip",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/pope-to-meet-victims-of-clerical-sex-abuse-on-france-trip-10181948",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-27T09:32:10.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Punch Nigeria",
    "slug": "punch-nigeria",
    "url": "https://punchng.com/pope-to-meet-victims-of-clerical-sex-abuse-on-france-trip/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Pope Leo XIV is on a four-day official visit to France, the first papal trip in nearly two decades. He arrived in Lourdes on Saturday evening and met hundreds of thousands of worshippers at an open-air mass on Sunday.\n\nThe Pope is set to meet privately with seven victims of clerical sex abuse in Lourdes. According to a 2021 inquiry, clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France over 70 years. One of the victims meeting the Pope is a former pupil of the Notre-Dame de Betharram institution, a boarding school at the centre of widespread accusations of physical and sexual abuse.\n\nThe Pope's visit comes as the Church faces scrutiny over its handling of the global sexual abuse scandal. The meeting with victims is seen as an effort to further reform the Church and acknowledge the suffering of survivors.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 6,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Free Malaysia Today",
        "title": "Pope to meet with victims of clerical sex abuse during France trip",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/pope-to-meet-with-victims-of-clerical-sex-abuse-during-france-trip",
        "published": "2026-09-27T08:03:28.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Malay Mail",
        "title": "Pope to meet clerical sex abuse victims during landmark France trip",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/pope-to-meet-clerical-sex-abuse-victims-during-landmark-france-trip",
        "published": "2026-09-27T08:07:20.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "The Local France",
        "title": "Pope to meet victims of clerical sex abuse on France trip",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/pope-to-meet-victims-of-clerical-sex-abuse-on-france-trip",
        "published": "2026-09-27T09:14:07.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Punch",
        "title": "Pope to meet victims of clerical sex abuse on France trip",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/pope-to-meet-victims-of-clerical-sex-abuse-on-france-trip-10185075",
        "published": "2026-09-27T09:50:10.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "France 24",
        "title": "The week in pictures: Trump hosts Xi, the pope visits France and floods ravage Thailand",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/27/the-week-in-pictures-trump-hosts-xi-the-pope-visits-france-and-floods",
        "published": "2026-09-27T10:05:49.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}