Pope Leo the 14th urged the Catholic Church to admit its own failures and to heal "deep wounds" inflicted on its own, hours before meeting this Sunday (27) with victims of child sexual abuse committed by priests in France.
Addressing a crowd occupying a large field near the famous Catholic sanctuary of Lourdes, he said the Church must have the courage to face its past, but did not directly mention the scandals that have provoked national uproar.
"To heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful mistakes that have occurred within, we must humbly place ourselves under the purifying gaze of the Lord," Leo told a crowd estimated at 150,000 people. He also called on French bishops to have perseverance in preventing and redressing sexual assaults.
Leo 14 makes a four-day visit to France, where he once again asked the world to reconsider the development of artificial intelligence. On Saturday (26), he brought together around 800,000 people for an open-air mass on the famous Champs-Élysées avenue, in Paris.
Local Catholic leaders hope he will help restore the institution's image after a 2021 report revealed that some 330,000 French children were victims of abuse by members of the Catholic clergy and lay leaders over seven decades.
In a closed-door meeting with French bishops this Sunday, Leo 14 directly mentioned "the painful scourge of abuse committed against minors by members of the clergy", according to a text released by the Vatican.
Before entering the assembly where the bishops were meeting, he stopped for a moment in front of the sculpture "The Crying Child", placed there five years ago to ensure that sexual abuse was not forgotten.
The pope thanked the bishops for the "courageous measures" that, he said, were taken to address the scandals, and urged them to reinforce their protection efforts and to "continue on the path started, maintaining maximum vigilance."
The leader of the Catholic Church had previously apologized directly for the abuse scandals that damaged the Church's credibility around the world. He is due to meet later this Sunday with seven French victims of abuse committed by members of the clergy.
Some victims expressed doubts that the meeting would result in quick changes by the Church. "I'm quite skeptical that the pope will resolve the issue, at least immediately," Michèle Le Reun-Gaigné, co-president of a victims' association in western France, told Reuters. "Things are moving very slowly. It's not going to happen overnight."
The pope's itinerary in France includes six events in Lourdes, a city located at the foot of the Pyrenees that attracts around 3 million pilgrims a year to visit the sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the waters of a fountain that are believed to have healing powers.
The site is also linked to a scandal that has dogged the Vatican in recent years. The sanctuary's facade features a series of mosaics by Father Marko Rupnik, a prominent religious artist linked to the Vatican who has been accused of sexual abuse.
There is no record of public comments from Rupnik, accused by more than 20 women, about the allegations. Five of his alleged victims wrote an open letter to the pope, harshly criticizing the Vatican's ongoing case against the priest.
The mosaics, which rise several stories high, were covered with large soft yellow tarps for the pope's visit. Upon arriving for Sunday Mass, Leo 14 traveled, in his open popemobile, the route close to the facade of the sanctuary and the covered mosaics.
The Pope, who on Friday firmly reiterated Catholic opposition to assisted death initiatives, two months after France established a legal right to death for people with incurable diseases, once again mentioned, in Lourdes, the Church's stance in defense of life.
He stated that the way the sanctuary welcomes sick pilgrims, who seek a miracle in its waters, contrasts with "current trends that seek to redefine the value of human life in the face of illness."
