Pope Leo to visit France and meet abuse survivors — Daily Maverick
Pope Leo is traveling to France for a four-day visit, during which he will meet with seven people who survived abuse by representatives of the Catholic clergy. The visit will include Paris, the pilgrimage center of Lourdes in the country’s southwest, and Metz near the border with Germany. It will be the pontiff’s first official visit to France in nearly 20 years, Daily Maverick reports.
Meeting in Lourdes
The meeting with survivors is scheduled for Sunday in Lourdes, several of its participants said in a press release. According to a senior Vatican official, Pope Leo asked for it to be organized as a dialogue and to involve people with different experiences, including those abused as adults, as well as representatives from different regions of France.
A 2021 report found that about 330,000 children suffered abuse by Catholic clergy and lay leaders in France over seven decades. The document described the Church’s response to victims as “deep, total and even cruel indifference.” French bishops subsequently introduced compensation and protection mechanisms, but survivors continue to demand accountability from Church leaders.
In August, Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas ordered mosaics created by priest and artist Marko Rupnik to be covered during the papal visit. Rupnik is accused of sexually abusing more than 20 women; there is no information that he has publicly commented on these allegations. Canonical proceedings against him are ongoing at the Vatican.
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Mass, artificial intelligence and peace in Europe
In Paris, Pope Leo will lead a service at the restored Notre-Dame Cathedral, which suffered a major fire in 2019. He will also hold an open Mass near the Champs-Élysées, for which about 600,000 people have registered, according to Marc Stenger, the former bishop of Troyes.
The program in the capital includes addresses before President Emmanuel Macron and other French leaders at the Élysée Palace, as well as before UNESCO staff. The pontiff is expected to raise the issue of regulating artificial intelligence, whose dangers he has previously warned about.
The trip will conclude in Metz with a speech on the “roots of Europe for peace and unity.” Macron has invited leaders of all 27 EU member states to the event. According to media reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may also take part.
