Pope Leo XIV to meet abuse survivors in France amid calls for action

Pope Leo XIV will privately meet seven survivors of abuse by Catholic personnel in Lourdes during his France visit. The encounter is being closely watched as campaigners demand concrete Church action beyond apologies and compensation.

In Short

• The private session in Lourdes will include seven individually invited survivors
• Campaigners objected because bishops chose attendees instead of survivors' own groups
• A 2021 report estimated 330,000 children suffered abuse across seven decades

Pope Leo XIV will meet seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel during his four-day visit to France beginning Friday, in a move that will be closely watched by critics who say the Church has not done enough to address the crisis.

The private meeting is scheduled for Sunday in Lourdes, one of Catholicism's most important pilgrimage sites. But the decision to invite individuals rather than representatives of survivors' groups has drawn criticism from some campaigners, who say the Church must go beyond words of compassion and take concrete action.

The seven survivors said in a joint statement last week that they do not claim to speak for all survivors. "Engaging in dialogue does not mean endorsing," they said. "Being received does not mean abandoning our demands." They added: "Each of us is taking part in this meeting in our own name, free to express our own views, convictions and choices."

The French Bishops' Conference said the group includes people abused as minors or adults in Catholic schools, parishes and religious congregations. In recent years, the French Catholic Church has set up an independent compensation system for survivors and acknowledged its history of abuse. A 2021 report estimated that 330,000 children in France were sexually abused over seven decades by priests, other clergy members, church workers and volunteers.

One of those due to meet Leo has said he was abused at the private Catholic school Notre-Dame de Betharram in south-western France, where allegations span more than five decades. Another was abused by Bernard Preynat, a priest who admitted sexually abusing at least 75 boys over several decades and was sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison. Another participant is among those who have accused Abbe Pierre, the priest and humanitarian who died in 2007, of sexually assaulting women.

Charles Mercier, a professor of the history and sociology of Catholicism at the Paris-based Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, said the main criticism was that the group meeting Leo was "not being chosen by the victims but by the bishops and the institutions". He said this had left some advocates who had fought for survivors' rights feeling that they "are not recognised by the church". Following the 2021 reckoning over the scale of sexual abuse, "bishops begged for pardon to the victims. And now they give the impression that they want to turn the page," Mercier said. Church leaders appeared to be saying that "we have dealt with this crisis and now we are building the future", he added.

Alain Esquerre, a spokesperson for a group of Betharram school survivors, said words of compassion were "no longer enough" and called for a concrete plan to combat abuse. "Receiving survivors' groups would carry far too much symbolic and political weight, and it would require concrete action to be taken," Esquerre said. "Because what we want is to move beyond simply hearing survivors' testimony and potentially providing them with financial compensation."

During a visit to Spain in June, Leo met six survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Madrid and promised to consider their suggestions on improving the Church's response, according to the Vatican. In Lourdes, the facade of a basilica features mosaics by the Reverend Marko Rupnik that were recently fully covered. Rupnik is on trial in a Vatican court on accusations of psychological, spiritual and sexual abuse involving more than two dozen women dating back to the 1990s.

Pressure has also grown in France over other cases. Last week, child protection activists protested near the home of Jacques Delfosse, a former Catholic priest suspected of sexually assaulting dozens of children. Protesters accused authorities of failing to act against Delfosse, who served in northern France and the Paris region from 1964 until the 2000s. He was convicted in 2007 of raping two girls younger than 15 during school holiday camps in the 1980s. He was dismissed from the clerical state in 2025 after media reports led dozens more people to come forward, and the Lille prosecutor's office opened an investigation in August into the new allegations.

Arnaud Gallais, 45, president of the child protection group Mouv'Enfants, urged President Emmanuel Macron to raise the Delfosse case during his meeting with Leo on Friday. He also called on the Lille diocese and the Vatican to open their archives. Denouncing what he called an "unbearable" denial of justice, Gallais pointed to a report by the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children that said only 3 per cent of rapes and sexual assaults committed against children each year in France end in a conviction. As Leo begins his visit, his meeting with survivors is set against continuing demands for broader action by the French Catholic Church.

With PTI Inputs

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