Pope Leo XIV on Sunday assured victims of clerical sex abuse he met in France of his commitment to prevent further harm.
The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, who is on his first official papal visit to France in nearly two decades, made the promise during the third day of his four-day visit to the pilgrimage town of Lourdes.
The pontiff privately met with seven adult survivors of abuse after pledging to intensify efforts to reform the Church following the global sexual abuse scandal.
Among those present was 80-year-old Jean-Marie Delbos, who was abused as a pupil at the Notre-Dame de Betharram boarding school near Lourdes, where staff have been accused of physical and sexual abuse spanning several decades.
Delbos, who said he lost his faith after the abuse, told journalists about an emotional encounter with the Pope.
“When he saw the state I was in, he took me into his arms. It was an extraordinary moment,” he said.
According to the Vatican, the Pope, the first American pontiff, thanked the victims “for their painful testimony and reaffirmed his commitment to do everything possible to ensure that the harm they suffered is not repeated for others” and expressed his hope to work together with them.
Another victim, Jerome Guillement, who has written about being abused by a priest as a teenager, said the Pope understood the systemic nature of abuse in the Church.
A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused around 330,000 minors in France over 70 years.
Pope Leo also urged bishops in a separate private meeting to continue the fight against sexual and physical violence.
Leave a comment