{"id":5866,"date":"2026-09-27T23:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T23:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=5866"},"modified":"2026-09-27T23:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T23:42:12","slug":"pope-pledges-action-on-clergy-child-abuse-in-meeting-with-french-survivors-child-rights-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=5866","title":{"rendered":"Pope pledges action on clergy child abuse in meeting with French survivors | Child Rights News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Head of the Roman Catholic Church holds \u2019emotional\u2019 two-hour meeting with seven abuse victims in French town of Lourdes.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Published On 27 Sep 2026<\/span>27 Sep 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Pope Leo XIV has thanked a group of survivors of clerical abuse \u201cfor their painful testimony\u201d and \u201creaffirmed his commitment\u201d to end harm by Catholic priests at a meeting in southwestern France, the Vatican said.<\/p>\n

The leader of the world\u2019s 1.4 billion Catholics is on a four-day visit to France<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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On Sunday, the pontiff visited the pilgrimage town of Lourdes, where he privately met seven survivors of child abuse, now adults, and promised to further efforts to reform the Church in the wake of the global sexual abuse scandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The group said in a later news conference that the meeting was emotional and touching.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he saw the state I was in, he took me into his arms,\u201d survivor Jean-Marie Delbos said, adding, \u201cIt was an extraordinary moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 80-year-old was abused as a pupil at the nearby boarding school of Notre-Dame de Betharram, where staff have been accused of physical and sexual abuse over several decades.<\/p>\n

The survivors said they felt heard and that they were impressed by Leo\u2019s compassion and knowledge of their individual cases.<\/p>\n

But they hoped the words would be accompanied by action.<\/p>\n

Jerome Guillement, who has written about a priest abusing him as a teenager, said at the news conference that the pope understood the \u201csystemic\u201d nature of sexual abuse in the Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom his point of view, the perpetrators are individuals, but what allows it to continue is the systemic dimension within the institution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe certainly believes that the Church has done a great deal in France, but he also believes that the Church in France still has a tremendous amount left to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pope
Pope Leo participates in a candlelight procession at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes, France, September 27, 2026, as part of his four-day apostolic journey to France [Stephane Mahe\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Local leaders hoped Leo\u2019s visit would help repair the Church\u2019s standing after a 2021 independent inquiry<\/a>\u00a0found that some 330,000 French children had been abused by Catholic clergy and lay leaders over seven decades.<\/p>\n

The pope told an estimated 150,000 people gathered for a Mass in a field near the famed Catholic shrine in Lourdes earlier on Sunday that the Church must have the courage to face its past.<\/p>\n

Veronique Garnier, another survivor who met with the pontiff, said she had found the Mass, in which Leo referred to abuse without directly apologising for it, troubling and wondered why she had attended.<\/p>\n

But she said she was encouraged by her meeting with Leo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do indeed believe there is hope \u2013 hope that there can be change and truly listening to us at a deep level, rather than just superficially with beautiful words that are never followed by any real action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Leo also spoke about the abuse scandals in a closed-door meeting with French bishops on Sunday, according to a Vatican-provided text.<\/p>\n

He was expected to visit the northeastern city of Metz on Monday before returning to Rome the same day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Head of the Roman Catholic Church holds \u2019emotional\u2019 two-hour meeting with seven abuse victims in French town of Lourdes. Published On 27 Sep 202627 Sep 2026 Pope Leo XIV has thanked a group of survivors of clerical abuse \u201cfor their painful testimony\u201d and \u201creaffirmed his commitment\u201d to end harm by Catholic priests at a meeting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t