Lourdes became a major pilgrimage destination after the Catholic Church officially recognized visions of the Virgin Mary reported here by a young girl in 1858. The site near the Spanish border attracts millions of pilgrims each year, especially sick and disabled believers hoping for healing from the famous spring water of the Lourdes Grotto where the visions are said to have taken place.
Thus, in Lourdes, where the Church recognized 72 “miraculous” healings as authentic, the question of respect even for the most fragile, the sick and the vulnerable arises particularly acutely.
More recently, Lourdes has also become a place of healing for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and it was chosen as Leo’s meeting place with victims. Lion met with them in groups and one-on-one during a meeting that lasted nearly two hours, the Vatican said.
THE pope “I listened to their stories, the pain and suffering they endured – sometimes, unfortunately, with the complicity or silence of those who could have helped them – and their suggestions to ensure that this does not happen again,” the Vatican said in a statement.
Olivier Tuesdayco-founder of Voix Libérations de Touraine, a group of survivors, said he perceived Léo as a decisive “committed man” who had done his homework before the meeting. He said Lion knew Tuesday case and asked him specific questions.
“He is not fooled, he knows that these incidents will continue and that we must remain vigilant,” he said. “There was an emotional side, and at the same time, something very powerful when he spoke.”
The French Church has faced a brutal reckoning over its legacy of abuse. An independent report released in 2021 estimates that 330,000 children were abused over 70 years by some 3,000 priests and church workers.
Despite criticism of the report’s methodology and conclusions, French bishops have set up an independent victim compensation system that has so far recommended the Church pay more than 20 million euros ($22.7 million).
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