Pope Leo XIV met privately with seven survivors of clerical sexual abuse during his official visit to France, reaffirming the Vatican’s commitment to preventing further abuse within the Catholic Church and supporting victims of decades-long misconduct.
The Vatican said the pope listened individually to each survivor’s testimony during a two-hour meeting in Lourdes before thanking them for sharing their experiences and promising to do “everything possible” to ensure similar abuse is not repeated. The meeting was one of the most closely watched events of the pope’s four-day visit to France.
The seven survivors, four men and three women were abused in Catholic parishes, boarding schools, religious congregations, or church organizations in France. Among them was Jean-Marie Delbos, an 80-year-old former student at the Notre-Dame de Bétharram boarding school, where staff members have been accused of decades of physical and sexual abuse. Delbos said Pope Leo embraced him during the meeting, describing it as “an extraordinary moment.”
The meeting came amid continuing pressure on the Catholic Church over its handling of sexual abuse allegations. A landmark independent inquiry published in 2021 concluded that approximately 330,000 children were sexually abused by clergy or lay members of the Catholic Church in France between 1950 and 2020, exposing one of the country’s largest institutional abuse scandals.
Pope Leo also met French bishops during his visit and urged them to continue confronting what he described as the Church’s “painful scourge” of abuse. He praised efforts already undertaken by the French Catholic Church but stressed that bishops must persevere in protecting minors and addressing cases of sexual and physical violence within church institutions.
Survivor groups welcomed the pope’s willingness to meet victims but said symbolic gestures alone are insufficient. Advocacy organizations have called for stronger accountability, greater transparency in handling abuse allegations, and an independent compensation system after expressing concerns about reforms adopted by the French Church.
The visit is Pope Leo XIV’s first official trip to France and the first papal visit to the country in nearly two decades. Beyond addressing clerical abuse, his visit included meetings with migrants, religious leaders, and pilgrims in Paris, Lourdes, and Metz, with the Vatican presenting the trip as part of broader efforts to promote reconciliation, human rights, and peace.
