TARBES (FRANCE)
The Times/The Sunday Times [London, England]
September 27, 2026
By David Chazan
Campaigners criticised the decision to see seven people privately at the pilgrimage site, rather than representatives of survivors’ organisations
The Pope met seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests on the third day of his visit to France, but campaigners accused him of shutting out groups pressing for wider reform.
The meeting came five years after an independent inquiry estimated that 330,000 children had been sexually abused by clergy or lay workers in the French church between 1950 and 2020. Its findings exposed decades of cover-ups and institutional failures to confront abuse.
Campaigners criticised Leo’s decision to meet seven people privately in Lourdes, a pilgrimage site, rather than publicly receiving representatives of survivors’ organisations.
Alain Esquerre, a spokesman for one survivors’ group, said: “We wanted a collective approach to speak for all victims and obtain two things from the Pope: to bear witness to the shame of the church and, above all, to propose a plan of action.”
Campaigners also complained that the church, rather than survivors’ groups, chose those who met the Pope. Monsignor Pierre-Antoine Bozo, a spokesman for the French bishops’ conference, said two of the seven had been proposed by victims’ groups. The Pope wanted to keep the group small so the meeting would remain intimate, he said.
“When it comes to listening to them, you can’t have 50 people in front of you,” he added. “So I think that’s really what the Pope chose: to listen so that we can act and respond more effectively.”
The Pope told the survivors that he recognised the “systemic” nature of clerical abuse and pledged to work with them to eradicate it.
After the meeting, five of the survivors paid tribute to the Pope’s “willingness to listen”. At a press conference, one of them, Jérôme Guillement, said the Pope had wanted “to meet people who had different experiences and different ideas about the way forward”. Guillement, a psychologist who treats abuse victims, said he remained a believer.
Lourdes, where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a peasant girl in a grotto in 1858, is known for miracle cures and has also become a place where survivors of abuse seek healing.
Addressing French bishops on Sunday, Leo praised them for their “courageous measures” to combat “the painful scourge of abuse committed against minors”. He urged them to maintain “the greatest vigilance … to ensure that victims are heard and to seek the truth, justice, forgiveness and compensation”.
French bishops criticised the conclusions of the report on abuse, but they have put in place an independent compensation system that has recommended the church pay out more than €20m (£17m).
Before the papal visit, mosaics at Lourdes by Marko Rupnik, a Slovenian priest facing a Vatican trial over abuse allegations, were covered. Five women who have accused him of abuse wrote to Leo last week, criticising the secrecy and length of the proceedings and asking why it had taken three decades for their complaints to be heard.
The Pope’s visit has drawn immense crowds, described by French media as a “rock star” welcome.
About 150,000 worshippers attended the Mass in Lourdes and the Vatican estimated that 800,000 people attended Saturday’s open-air service at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
President Macron stayed away, officially to respect France’s constitutional secularism. His wife, Brigitte, Sébastien Lecornu, the prime minister, and several members of cabinet attended.
Also present was Marine Le Pen, the populist right-winger who is leading polls for next year’s presidential election, and the chairman of her National Rally party, Jordan Bardella.