Pope Leo XIV will meet with the French abuse survivors as critics demand action

PARIS -- Pope Leo XIV, during his four-day visit to France beginning Friday, will meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel. The outcome will be closely watched by critics who say the church has not done enough to confront the problem.

The meeting is scheduled for Sunday in Lourdes, one of Catholicism’s most important pilgrimage sites. Some survivors’ groups have criticized the decision to select individuals rather than representatives of established organizations.

The seven survivors said in a joint statement last week that they do not claim to represent all survivors.

“Engaging in dialogue does not mean endorsing,” they said. “Being received does not mean abandoning our demands.”

“Each of us is taking part in this meeting in our own name, free to express our own views, convictions and choices," they added.

The French Bishops’ Conference said the group includes people who were abused as minors or adults in Catholic schools, parishes and religious congregations.

France’s Catholic Church has begun to reckon with abuse

In recent years, the French Catholic Church has established an independent compensation system for survivors and acknowledged the institution’s history of abuse.

A 2021 report estimated that 330,000 children in France had been sexually abused over seven decades by priests, other clergy members, church workers and volunteers.

One participant says he was abused at the private Catholic school Notre-Dame de Bétharram in southwestern France, where allegations span more than five decades.

Another was abused by Bernard Preynat, a priest who acknowledged sexually abusing at least 75 boys over several decades.

Preynat was sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison in one of France’s most prominent clergy abuse cases to reach trial.

Another participant is among those who have accused Abbé Pierre, a nationally revered priest and humanitarian who died in 2007, of sexually assaulting women.

Critics question the selection process

Charles Mercier, professor of history and sociology of Catholicism at the Paris-based École Pratique des Hautes Études, or EPHE, said the main criticism concerns the group meeting with Leo "not being chosen by the victims but by the bishops and the institutions.”

That has left some advocates who have fought for survivors’ rights feeling they “are not recognized by the church,” he said.

Following the 2021 reckoning over the extent of sexual abuse, “bishops begged for pardon to the victims. And now they give the impression that they want to turn the page,” Mercier added.

Church leaders appear to be saying that “we have dealt with this crisis and now we are building the future,” he said.

Alain Esquerre, a spokesperson for a group of Bétharram school survivors, said words of compassion are “no longer enough” and called for a concrete plan to combat abuse.

“Receiving survivors’ groups would carry far too much symbolic and political weight, and it would require concrete action to be taken,” Esquerre said. “Because what we want is to move beyond simply hearing survivors’ testimony and potentially providing them with financial compensation."

During a visit to Spain in June, Leo met in Madrid with six survivors of clergy sexual abuse and vowed to consider their suggestions for improving the church’s response to the crisis, according to the Vatican.

In Lourdes, the façade of a basilica features mosaics by the Rev. Marko Rupnik that were recently covered entirely. Rupnik is on trial in a Vatican court on accusations of psychological, spiritual and sexual abuse involving more than two dozen women dating to the 1990s.

Activists demand broader action

Last week, child protection activists protested near the home of Jacques Delfosse, a former Catholic priest suspected of sexually assaulting dozens of children.

Protesters denounced what they described as authorities’ failure to act against Delfosse, who served in northern France and the Paris region from 1964 until the 2000s.

Delfosse was convicted in 2007 of raping two girls younger than 15 during school holiday camps in the 1980s.

He was dismissed from the clerical state in 2025 after media reports prompted dozens to come forward with allegations. The Lille prosecutor’s office opened an investigation in August into the new allegations.

Arnaud Gallais, 45, president of the child protection group Mouv’Enfants, called on President Emmanuel Macron to raise the case during his meeting with Leo on Friday. He also urged the Lille diocese and the Vatican to open their archives.

Denouncing an “unbearable” denial of justice, Gallais cited a report by the Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children, or CIIVISE, stating that only 3% of rapes and sexual assaults committed against children each year in France result in a conviction.

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Associated Press journalists Jeffrey Schaeffer and Alexander Turnbull contributed to this story.