Pope Leo XIV recognizes the systemic nature of sexual violence in the Church during his visit to Lourdes

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• Direct Pope's visit to Lourdes: Leo XIV recognized the "systemic" nature of sexual violence in the Church, during his meeting with seven victims in Lourdes

They were able to speak with the sovereign pontiff for almost two hours at the end of the day on Sunday. First individually then collectively.

What you need to know

“We felt a pope who was authentically attentive. I have rarely met someone who listened so deeply.” Thus Olivier Mardi spoke of his meeting with Léon XIV, on the evening of Sunday September 27. “I have rarely met someone who listened so deeply,” said the co-founder of a victims’ collective in Touraine. During this closed-door meeting lasting almost two hours, the Pope recognized the “systemic” nature of sexual violence in the Church. Follow our live stream.

• “What is legal is not necessarily moral,” insists the Pope. During a speech in front of the Accueil Notre-Dame establishment in Lourdes on Sunday afternoon, Leo XIV considered that it was "impossible to consider it normal to kill". These comments come as Parliament voted for a text on assisted dying two months ago.

• A new XXL mass. During a giant open-air mass in Lourdes (Hautes-Pyrénées) on Sunday morning, the pope called for “peace” and “dialogue”. Around 200,000 people gathered in front of the sanctuary to listen to the pope. Among them, Michelle Sabatté, the dean of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, who will celebrate her 108th birthday, and who made the trip specially by ambulance.

• Metz to end the papal visit. This is the epilogue of Pope Leo XIV's visit to France. Monday, the sovereign pontiff passes through Lorraine for a final, eminently political day in France. Under the eyes of Emmanuel Macron, he will develop his thoughts on European construction and its central role in the peace that has reigned in Western Europe for eighty years.

Olivier Tuesday

co-founder of a collective of victims in Touraine

0 seconds ago

“Instead of making reports every year (...), now we must enter a phase of co-piloting actions.”

#PAPE This former victim has delivered “proposals” to Leo XIV, in particular to “enter a phase of realization and implementation”.

franceinfo

0 seconds ago

#POPE Pope Leo “Lourdes is only a step, it’s only the beginning of the path,” explains this former victim.

Jérôme Guillement

victim of a Vendée priest as a teenager

0 seconds ago

#PAPE"The systemic dimension still exists in the institution, from his point of view. He said again and again that this systemic dimension is so present today that, even if the Church has done a lot in France, it still has a lot of work to do."

Olivier Tuesday

co-founder of Voix Libérations de Touraine

0 seconds ago

“Leon XIV is not fooled. He knows that the incidents [of sexual violence in the Church] will continue and that we must remain vigilant.”

#POPE Hailing "a committed and determined man", this victim said he was touched by the speech given to the victims by the Pope, who "knows that this change and this transformation will take time".

franceinfo

0 seconds ago

#PAPE Véronique Garnier, from the Faith and Resilience collective, welcomes a “simple” meeting with Pope Leo XIV, a form of exchange which, according to her, expresses “the hope that something can change”. Jérôme Guillement, victim of a Vendée priest, for his part praises the “sincerity” of the sovereign pontiff.

franceinfo

0 seconds ago

#PAPE Victim of sexual violence in Bétharram, Jean-Marie Delbos evokes “an extraordinary moment”. Claiming to have lost his faith since the abuse he experienced in his youth, he assures that this day gave him “a new vision of what the Church and the Pope are, which shook me”.

Bertrand Virieux

victim of priest Bernard Preynat

0 seconds ago

“I am truly amazed by this pope. Between his verbal commitment, his depth, his listening, it reconciled me with what I experienced ten years ago when we spoke in a vacuum, we wrote to the pope and he did not respond to us.”

#PAPE This founder of a former victims' association welcomes "a clear change" and "a major awareness" on the part of the Catholic Church.

Olivier Tuesday

victim of sexual violence in the Church

0 seconds ago

“We felt a pope who was authentically attentive. I have rarely met someone who listened so deeply.”

#PAPE This co-founder of a collective of victims in Touraine expresses his satisfaction at the end of his interview with Léon XIV.

franceinfo

0 seconds ago

#PAPE The victims let it be known that the Pope first met them individually, before speaking with them as a group, during a sequence which lasted 1 hour 57 minutes, more than the hour initially planned.

(FRANCEINFO)

franceinfo

0 seconds ago

#PAPE The press conference of the victims of sexual violence in the Church who were received this evening by Leo XIV in Lourdes begins immediately. You can follow it in our live stream and on TNT channel 16.

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