San Francisco Frontiers - Pope to meet victims of clerical sex abuse on France trip

The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics is on a four-day trip to France, a secular country with deep Catholic roots, marking the first official papal visit there in nearly two decades.

The first US pontiff is expected to meet privately with seven victims after promising to further efforts to reform the Church in the wake of the global sexual abuse scandal.

Domitille Bardoul, 26, woke up before dawn to wait for prayers in the southwestern town at the foot of the Pyrenees, after taking the train down from Paris.

"It's very beautiful that the pope is going to listen to them," she said of his meeting the survivors of sexual abuse.

"For me, it's also a way of acknowledging that every possible measure is being taken to prevent this kind of abuse."

A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 people as minors in France over 70 years.

Among the victims who will meet the pope is a former pupil of the Notre-Dame de Betharram institution, a nearby boarding school at the centre of widespread accusations of physical and sexual abuse over several decades.

- 'Wise and generous leaders' -

The pope arrived in Lourdes on Saturday evening after a huge open-air mass on a Paris square and adjoining high-end shopping avenue.

Months ahead of a presidential election with the far-right surging and immigration high on the agenda, he prayed to the Virgin Mary to "obtain for France wise and generous leaders... eager to serve the common good".

He prayed for them to make France's "voice heard in promoting the defence of fundamental human rights and peace in the world, rejecting the mentality of war once and for all.".

Leo was the third pope to visit Lourdes after Benedict XVI in 2008 and Jean-Paul II in 1983 and 2004.

The sanctuary, one of the most important Catholic holy sites in the world, receives some three million pilgrims each year. Believers credit it with miraculous healings.

- Giant Paris mass -

On Saturday, the 71-year-old pope led enthusiastic worshippers in a mass at Paris's Place de la Concorde.

"It is truly good and pleasant when brothers and sisters come together and glorify the greatness of God," said Pope Leo.

Aline Riziki, 41, was among an estimated 800,000 people to have lined the Champs Elysees avenue and nearby streets to listen, according to Vatican figures.

"It's one time in history to see the pope," said Riziki, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has lived in France for 11 years.

"I dropped everything to come here and see him, to pray for peace in the east" of her homeland, racked by conflict for decades, she said.

The first US pontiff was visiting France seven months before voters choose a successor to centrist President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron did not attend the mass but was represented by his wife Brigitte. The president said in a message on X that France was "proud to welcome Pope Leo XIV and this monumental mass in the heart of Paris".

burs-ah/pdw

D.Brown--SFF