According to reports from the BBC and AFP, on September 26 local time, Pope Leo XIV, who was visiting France, called for French bishops to eradicate this 'menace' of sexual assault within the Catholic Church, urging them to be highly vigilant.
Leo XIV was on a four-day official visit to France. On the third day of his trip, he held a closed-door meeting with bishops at the Basilica of Notre Dame in Lourdes, in the southern part of France, and delivered the aforementioned speech.
He said to the bishops: “You have already firmly faced the painful issue of clergy raping children within the church system. In the future, we must continue this path that has already been started and maintain the highest level of vigilance.”
A survey report from 2021 indicates that over a period of 70 years, French church clergy and laypeople have committed sexual abuse against approximately 330,000 children.
On that day, Leo XIV conducted a mass in Lourdes with 150,000 faithful. He acknowledged that there had been 'severe wounds, breaches of trust, and deplorable dereliction of duty' within the church.
He said in his sermon: "To acknowledge our mistakes is indispensable for spiritual growth."
According to the schedule, he will meet with 7 victims who were sexually assaulted by French Catholic clergy.
The report mentions that the number of parishioners who regularly participate in religious services in France has decreased from 35% of the total population in 1960 to less than 5% today; the number of priests has also decreased by two-thirds, from 25,000 in 1990 to less than 9,000.
However, in recent years, there have been signs of a revival of religious traditions in France. The number of adults getting baptized has more than doubled over the past five years, reaching 10,000 people by 2025.
