Pope Leo XIV continues his visit to Lourdes with a planned meeting with victims of sexual violence

In France since Friday, the Pope will continue his visit to Lourdes this Sunday. Arriving in the city on Saturday evening, from where he launched a message subtly linked to the 2027 presidential election, Leo XIV is due to celebrate a mass there and has a meeting with victims of sexual violence in the Church.

The Pyrenean town of around 13,600 inhabitants was adorned with the yellow and white colors of the Vatican, with shops and restaurants displaying the portrait of the sovereign pontiff in their windows. Pilgrims should number 200,000 over the weekend, according to the prefecture, to prolong the enthusiasm perceived in Paris.

In the footsteps of Benedict XVI and John Paul II

This Sunday, the Pope's day will begin with a meeting with the French bishops, before a walkabout in a popemobile (10:15 a.m.) on the meadow of the Marian sanctuary, which welcomes three million visitors per year. In front of the 150,000 people expected, Leo

Traffic has been cut off in the town, with pilgrims only able to access it by specially chartered buses or by shuttles from Tarbes, about 25 km away.

A meeting with a Betharram elder

The Pope will then meet sick or disabled faithful at 3:30 p.m. He will also have an interview with nuns. And, before a torchlight procession at 9 p.m., one stage will be highly scrutinized: a closed-door meeting with seven victims of sexual violence in the Church in France. Leo XIV is particularly expected on this sensitive subject, especially since he has not yet said anything about it since his arrival in Paris on Friday. The subject remains hot for the Church of France, five years after the shock report which estimated the number of minor victims within it at 330,000 since 1950.

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Among the victims who will meet the Pope is a former member of the Notre-Dame de Bétharram institution, but no collective representative – a choice widely criticized by the latter, who deplore “a masquerade” without consultation or “a game of victim competition”. In Spain where he met six victims in June, Leo XIV denounced a “scourge” and demanded “truth, justice and reparation”.