Pope Leo XIV Celebrates Mass in Lourdes Before Hundreds of Thousands

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass on Sunday before hundreds of thousands of faithful gathered in a field facing the grotto of Lourdes, the French Catholic shrine long associated with miraculous cures and, increasingly, with healing for survivors of clergy sexual abuse.

Pilgrims began arriving early, with hundreds of buses forming a kilometres-long stream into the town near the Spanish border. Crowds cheered and waved as the pope travelled through them in his popemobile ahead of the service.

At the altar, set behind a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, the pope blessed water and sprinkled the congregation with a leafy branch. Bishops seated behind the statue joined him for the celebration, during which priests distributed communion.

Among those present were pilgrims from beyond France, including a person waving a Lebanese flag and a woman holding a sign reading Chiclayo. Several attendees described the occasion in emotional terms.

"It is an immense joy, I live in Lourdes, to truly have this chance to experience this Mass with the faithful, and there are also non-believers, it is truly a fraternal celebration and that also represents the message of peace of the Pope," said Anne Marie Hinschbuerger-Voisin, a resident of the town.

François Lalanne, a worshipper from Lourdes, noted the pope's regional ties. "We were very happy and deeply honored, especially knowing that our pope is our compatriot, since his ancestors came from our region," he said, adding that the plane carrying the pontiff had landed on the land of his ancestors in the Bigorre and Béarn region.

Patricia Ebatha, who travelled from Brazzaville in Congo, spoke of the shrine's significance. "He is venerating the Virgin Mary and Bernadette Soubirous of Lourdes," she said, referring to the young girl whose reported visions in 1858 led to the site becoming a major pilgrimage destination. Ebatha also noted that the pope presented a cross and medals recognising the benefits associated with Lourdes.

The pope concluded the Mass with a final prayer before the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and offered closing salutations to the crowd.

Leo had arrived in Lourdes from Paris on Saturday night. During his visit, he was scheduled to meet seven survivors of clergy sexual abuse, including one who was abused as an adult — a reminder of the reckoning the French church has faced over its legacy.

An independent report in 2021 estimated that some 330,000 children had been abused over seven decades by about 3,000 priests and church workers. Despite criticism of the report's methodology and conclusions, French bishops established an independent compensation system for victims that has so far recommended the church pay more than 20 million euros (about $22.7 million).

The Lourdes visit also brings the pope face to face with a case inherited from Pope Francis involving the Rev. Marko Rupnik, one of the church's most prominent mosaic artists. Rupnik is currently on trial in a Vatican court, accused by more than two dozen women of psychological, spiritual and sexual abuse beginning in the 1990s, including during the creation of his artworks.