Pope Leo XIV encourages French bishops to continue the fight against child crime

Expected words. On Sunday, September 27, Pope Leo

“I thank you for what you have done” against sexual violence against minors, with “courageous measures to respond to it”, he said, referring to measures concerning “listening, the search for truth, justice, forgiveness, reparation and a determined commitment to a culture of prevention”.

“It is appropriate to continue on the path started while maintaining the greatest vigilance,” added the American pope, who had not yet spoken on the subject since the start of his four-day visit to France on Friday. During this meeting, the head of the French episcopate, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, also spoke of "the continuation of the fight against sexual violence committed in an ecclesial framework", according to the text of his transmitted speech, with a "shift of the gaze" towards the "point of view of the people who have been its victims" first.

“To heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors committed” within the Church, “we must stand humbly under the purifying gaze of the Lord,” the pope subsequently declared in the homily of his giant mass, without directly naming this issue.

Leo in tears symbolizing the suffering of victims of sexual violence in the Church, affixed in November 2021 after the publication of the report revealing the extent of child crime within it.