Pope Leo XIV will meet with the French abuse survivors as critics demand action

PARIS (AP) — Pope Leo XIV, during his four-day visit to France beginning Friday, will meet privately with seven survivors of sexual abuse by priests and other Catholic personnel. The outcome will be closely watched by critics who say the church hasn’t done enough to confront the problem. 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 organizations. The seven survivors said in a joint statement last week that they don’t 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,” the survivors said. The French Bishops’ Conference said that the group includes people who were abused as minors or adults in Catholic schools, parishes and religious congregations. France’s Catholic Church has begun to reckon with abuse 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. One participant says he was abused at the private Catholic school Notre-Dame de Bétharram in southwestern France, where allegations span more than five decades. Another was abused by Bernard Preynat, a priest who acknowledged sexually abusing at least 75 boys over several decades.

Preynat was sentenced in 2020 to five years in prison in one of France’s most prominent clergy abuse cases to reach trial. Another participant is among those who have accused Abbé Pierre, a nationally revered priest and humanitarian who died in 2007, of sexually assaulting women. Survivors say the church still has a long way to go Several survivors called on the Vatican to take further action against clergy sexual abuse as the Independent National Authority for Recognition and Reparation, or INIRR, said Tuesday that 1,969 people abused as children had come forward over the past five years.

The independent body is handling a wide-ranging reparations program involving financial compens…