Pope urges vigilance on abuse after meeting French survivors

Pope Leo XIV urged French bishops to maintain “the greatest vigilance” against sexual abuse in the Catholic Church on Sunday, then met seven survivors in Lourdes who said they felt heard but wanted his words followed by action.

Speaking to bishops behind closed doors at the Sanctuary of Our Holy Lady of Lourdes, Leo called abuse of minors by clergy or within the Church a “painful scourge.” His remarks were later released to reporters.

“You have faced with determination the painful scourge of abuse of minors committed by members of the clergy or within an ecclesial context,” he told the bishops. “It is important to persevere along the path you have begun, maintaining the greatest vigilance.”

The meeting came on the third day of his four-day official visit to France, his first since becoming pope in May 2025. A 2021 inquiry found that about 330,000 people had been abused as children by Catholic clergy or lay members in France over seven decades.

Leo spent about two hours with the seven survivors, according to Al Jazeera. The Vatican said he “thanked them for their painful testimony and reaffirmed his commitment to ensuring that the harm they experienced is not repeated for others.”

Survivor Jean-Marie Delbos called the encounter “extraordinary.” Delbos, 80, was abused as a pupil at the nearby Notre-Dame de Betharram boarding school, where staff have been accused of physical and sexual abuse over several decades, Al Jazeera reported. “When he saw the state I was in, he took me into his arms,” Delbos said.

The survivors said Leo knew about their individual cases and listened to them. Jerome Guillement, who has written about being abused by a priest as a teenager, said the pope understood that abuse had a “systemic” dimension within the institution. Guillement said Leo believed the Church in France had done much, but still had “a tremendous amount left to do.”

Earlier Sunday, Leo celebrated Mass near the Lourdes shrine before a crowd estimated at 150,000, according to Al Jazeera. He told worshippers the Church must have the courage to face its past. Survivor Veronique Garnier said she found the Mass troubling because Leo referred to abuse without directly apologising, but felt more hopeful after meeting him.

“I do indeed believe there is hope – hope that there can be change and truly listening to us at a deep level, rather than just superficially with beautiful words that are never followed by any real action,” she said.

The previous day, an estimated 700,000 people gathered at Paris’s Place de la Concorde to hear Leo speak, according to the BBC. He also addressed young people as “today’s Church” and urged Catholics to share their faith. He met President Emmanuel Macron on Friday.

Later Sunday, Leo visited staff and residents at a Lourdes health facility and took part in a torchlight procession. He was expected to visit Metz on Monday before returning to Rome.