This afternoon, shortly after 17.30, at the bishop’s residence in Lourdes, Pope Leo XIV met with seven people – four men and three women – who had been victims of abuse by members of the clergy and the Church in France. They were accompanied by His Excellency Bishop Gérard Le Stang Amiens, chair of the Council for the Prevention and Combating of Paedophilia within the Bishops’ Conference of France.

The Pope met each of them individually and in private, listening to their stories, to the pain and suffering they had endured – sometimes, sadly, with the complicity or silence of those who could have helped them – and to their suggestions on how to ensure this does not happen again. With some, he paused for a few moments in prayer.

At the end, shortly after 19.00, the Pope gathered with everyone in a room at the bishop’s residence and addressed a few words to them, thanking them for their painful testimony and reaffirming his commitment to ensuring that the harm they had experienced would not be repeated to others. Pope Leone expressed his solidarity with them and, through them, with all those who have suffered and are still suffering from the wounds of the abuse they have endured. Finally, expressing his hope that they might work together so that the community of the faithful might increasingly become a place where men and women of all ages can find comfort and healing, the Pope asked those present to pray for him and imparted his blessing upon them. The meeting ended at around 19.30.