Pope Leo XIV plans to meet with seven survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy during his visit to France PARIS -- Pope Leo XIV, during his four-day visit to France beginning Friday, will meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel. The outcome will be closely watched by critics who say the church has not done enough to confront the problem. The meeting is scheduled for Sunday in Lourdes, one of Catholicism’s most important pilgrimage sites.
Some survivors’ groups have criticized the decision to select individuals rather than representatives of established organizations. The seven survivors said in a joint statement last week that they do not claim to represent all survivors. The French Bishops’ Conference said the group includes people who were abused as minors or adults in Catholic schools, parishes and religious congregations.
In recent years, the French Catholic Church has established an independent compensation system for survivors and acknowledged the institution’s history of abuse. A 2021 report estimated that 330,000 children in France had been sexually abused over seven decades by priests, other clergy members, church workers and volunteers. One participant says he was abused at the private Catholic school Notre-Dame de Bétharram in southwestern France, where allegations span more than five decades.
Another was abused by Bernard Preynat, a priest who acknowledged sexually abusing at least 75 boys over several decades. Preynat was sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison in one of France’s most prominent clergy abuse cases to reach trial. Another participant is among those who have accused Abbé Pierre, a nationally revered priest and humanitarian who died in 2007, of sexually assaulting women.
Charles Mercier, professor of history and sociology of Catholicism at the Paris-based École Pratique des Hautes Études, or EPHE, said the main criticism concerns the group meeting with Leo "not being chosen by the victims but by the bishops and the institutions.” That has left some advocates who have fought for survivors’ rights feeling they “are not recognized by the church,” he said. Following the 2021 reckoning over the extent of sexual abuse, “bishops begged for pardon to the victims. And now they give the impression that they want to turn the page,” Mercier added.
Church leaders appear to be saying that “we have dealt with this crisis and now we are building the future,” he said. Alain Esquerre, a spokesperson for a group of Bétharram school survivors, said words of compassion are “no longer enough” and called for a concrete plan to combat abuse. In Lourdes, the façade of a basilica features mosaics by the Rev.
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