During his four-day visit to France beginning tomorrow, Pope Leo XIV will meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel. Source: Crux Now.
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 organisations.
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.
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.
Charles Mercier, professor of history and sociology of Catholicism at the Paris-based École Pratique des Hautes Études, 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 recognised by the Church”, 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,” Mr 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 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.
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Pope Leo XIV will meet with the French abuse survivors as critics demand action (By Sylvie Corbet, AP via Crux Now)
