Pope Leo XIV Meets Survivors in Lourdes Amid France Abuse Reckoning
Pope Leo XIV met privately with seven adult survivors of clerical child abuse in Lourdes on September 27, 2026. The meeting lasted two hours and was described as emotional.
The Vatican said Leo thanked the survivors for their painful testimony and restated his commitment to stop abuse by Catholic priests, according to Al Jazeera. The meeting took place during his four-day apostolic journey to France, the formal term for an official papal trip, which brought him to Lourdes on September 27. Survivors who helped prepare the journey had worked with organizers in advance on the format of the private meeting.
One of those present was Jean-Marie Delbos, 80, who was abused as a pupil at the Notre-Dame de Betharram boarding school near Lourdes. Staff at Betharram have been accused of physical and sexual abuse over several decades. In geographic terms, Lourdes sits close to that school.
Later on September 27, Leo celebrated Mass before an estimated 150,000 people near the Catholic shrine in Lourdes and said the Church must have the courage to face its past. He called on the Catholic Church to admit its own failings and heal "deep wounds" inflicted within its ranks, according to Reuters. He also joined a candlelight procession at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, the major pilgrimage site in the town. In a separate closed-door meeting with French bishops in Lourdes on the same day, he discussed abuse scandals. He was expected to visit Metz on Monday before returning to Rome the same day.
French survivors who attended the private meeting praised it afterward, saying he listened to them and was well informed, according to Associated Press. Several survivors had said in a press release ahead of the trip that the pope would meet seven survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy on Sunday in Lourdes.
That announcement followed a clear order of disclosure. The survivors' press release came before the Vatican confirmation. The schedule for the four-day journey, published in August, had already listed a private meeting with several survivors of abuse in the Church.
The broader context here is the size of the French case and why it limits what the Vatican can do. A 2021 independent inquiry found that some 330,000 French children had been abused by Catholic clergy and lay leaders over seven decades. About 120 French bishops gathered in Lourdes for a General Assembly focused on child abuse and victims. Leo has held similar meetings before. He met with fifteen people from Belgium who were victims of clerical abuse as minors.
In my view, the sequence in Lourdes will look familiar to people who follow Vatican practice. There was private listening, then a public Mass with language of acknowledgment, then a closed session with bishops, meaning the national church leadership. Each audience heard a different message. Survivors judge sincerity. The crowd hears contrition. The bishops hear expectations about governance. Whether those three tracks lead to changes in local church procedures, payments to victims, and cooperation with police and courts is the test by which this visit will be judged in France.
