Pope Leo XIV urges Church reckoning and condemns assisted dying at Lourdes

Pope Leo XIV called on the Catholic Church to confront “deep wounds” and “painful errors” during a Sunday visit to the shrine at Lourdes, France, ahead of a planned private meeting with seven survivors of child sexual abuse by French clergy.

Speaking to an estimated 150,000 people at an open-air Mass, Leo said the Church must “humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze” to heal wounds, infidelities and errors within it. He did not directly refer to French abuse scandals, which affected at least 330,000 children over seven decades, according to The Guardian.

The pope also condemned medically assisted dying as “false compassion,” reaffirming Catholic teaching that human life must be protected from conception until natural death. “It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal,” he said. “What is legal is not necessarily moral.” France adopted legislation last month allowing incurably ill adults to seek aid in dying.

Leo’s four-day visit to France included events with patients and staff at Lourdes, a major Catholic pilgrimage destination associated with reported healings. His visit came as mosaics at the shrine created by Jesuit priest Marko Rupnik remained covered. Rupnik is on trial at the Vatican over allegations that he psychologically, spiritually and sexually abused more than two dozen women; he is not known to have commented publicly on the claims.