Pope Leo XIV prays for France and discusses the presidential election in Lourdes

Without saying it explicitly, Leo XIV sent a message for the presidential election next year. During a prayer at the grotto of Lourdes shortly after his arrival at the Marian shrine, the Pope entrusted France to the protection of the Virgin Mary on Saturday evening.

“We pray to you, Our Lady, for France, of which you are the Patroness and which you have surrounded by your protection for so many centuries. Obtain for his people the gift of fraternal harmony,” declared the pope at the grotto of Massabielle where the Virgin Mary appeared to a young shepherdess in 1858. “May he build a harmonious society, banishing all violence and all hatred, allowing everyone to work, to found their family and to complete their life to the end in tranquility and serenity,” asked Leo XIV, from Lourdes, second stop of his visit to France, where some 200,000 people are expected over the weekend.

Pope advocates “defense of human rights”

“Let us obtain wise and generous leaders for France, ready to sacrifice themselves, capable of facing challenges and wanting to serve the common good,” asked the sovereign pontiff as France goes to the polls in the spring for the presidential election. “May they keep it in peace within the concert of nations, […] make its voice heard to promote the defense of fundamental human rights as well as peace in the world, forever rejecting the logic of war,” he added.

While thousands of faithful followed his arrival in the illuminated grotto at nightfall on the giant screens of the sanctuary, the Pope silently reflected before performing the gestures that every pilgrim performs on his way to Lourdes: touch the rock, light a candle and drink water from the spring which flows in the grotto.

Victims of sexual violence will be received behind closed doors

The sanctuary of Lourdes is one of the main places of Catholic pilgrimage in the world, and welcomes around three million visitors each year. Built around the cave where the 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette Soubirous are said to have occurred in 1858, the 55-hectare sanctuary welcomes sick and disabled pilgrims in particular. For Catholics, miraculous healings have occurred in Lourdes: 72 cases have to date been recognized as such by the Church.

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On Sunday, the 71-year-old pope, whose third personal visit to Lourdes, will preside over an open-air mass on the sanctuary meadow before meeting behind closed doors with victims of sexual violence in the Church, a theme that he has not mentioned in his speeches so far.