Pope Leo Tells French Bishops to Root Out Abuse at Lourdes

Pope Leo told French bishops gathered at Lourdes that the Roman Catholic Church must keep confronting the "scourge" of clerical sexual abuse, a message delivered hours before he was scheduled to meet privately with survivors, according to BBC News.

What did Pope Leo tell the bishops?

The remarks came during a closed-door meeting at the Sanctuary of Our Holy Lady of Lourdes on the third day of the pontiff's four-day visit to France, the first of his papacy. Speaking to senior French clergy, Leo said the bishops "have faced with determination the painful scourge of abuse of minors committed by members of the clergy or within an ecclesial context," according to remarks later released to reporters and reported by the BBC.

"It is important to persevere along the path you have begun, maintaining the greatest vigilance."

The Pope did not announce new Vatican policy or disciplinary mechanisms during the exchange, based on the remarks made public. The statement functioned as a directive to continue existing internal reforms rather than a new rule, order, or decree.

How large is the abuse case in France?

The context for Leo's remarks is a 2021 independent inquiry that found clergy or lay members of the Church had abused roughly 330,000 people as children in France over a 70-year span, the BBC reported. That inquiry has shaped the French Church's internal reckoning for the past four years and forms the backdrop against which Leo's Lourdes remarks were delivered.

The Pope said Mass before thousands of worshippers at Lourdes on Sunday, then was scheduled to meet abuse survivors privately later the same day, according to the BBC account. No further detail on the format or attendees of that survivor meeting was released ahead of time.

What else happened during the visit?

The Lourdes stop followed a day after an estimated 700,000 people gathered at Place de la Concorde in Paris to hear the pontiff, with crowds lining the Champs-Élysées as he rode in an open-topped popemobile, the BBC reported. On Friday, Leo met with French President Emmanuel Macron. During Saturday's Paris Mass, he told worshippers that Catholics should not keep faith to themselves but should "let it overflow so that those you meet may be refreshed," and he addressed young people directly, calling them "today's Church" and praising their "enthusiasm, energy and commitment."

Later Sunday, the Pope was scheduled to visit staff and residents at a health facility in Lourdes and take part in a torchlight procession in the evening, closing out the day's program.

Why does the visit matter for French Catholicism?

The trip lands amid a decades-long decline in French religious practice alongside more recent signs of renewed interest. Regular worship attendance in France has fallen from 35% of the population in 1960 to under 5% today, and the number of priests has dropped by two-thirds, from 25,000 in 1990 to fewer than 9,000, according to the BBC. At the same time, adult baptisms more than doubled over five years to reach 10,000 in 2025, the outlet reported — a trend cited as evidence of pockets of renewed interest even as institutional attendance contracts.

France's history combines an officially secular political system with deep Catholic roots, and popes have made regular visits there. Leo's trip is his first as head of the Church since he was elected in May 2025, giving the Lourdes remarks on abuse particular weight as an early marker of how his papacy will address a crisis that has dogged his predecessors.

What happens next?

The BBC report did not specify whether the private survivor meeting would produce a public statement or whether the Vatican plans further policy steps tied to the French findings. The Pope's remaining schedule in Lourdes includes the health-facility visit and torchlight procession before his four-day France visit concludes.

Why did the Pope choose Lourdes for this message?

Lourdes, in southern France, is one of Catholicism's most visited pilgrimage sites, and Leo said Mass there at the Meadow of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, according to the BBC. He also greeted pilgrims from his open-topped popemobile at the sanctuary, mirroring the reception he received a day earlier in Paris. Delivering the abuse message at a shrine tied to healing and pilgrimage, rather than in a Vatican or Paris setting, placed the directive to French bishops within a site closely associated with penance and renewal for French Catholics.