Pope Leo XIV will hold a private meeting with victims of sexual abuse during his visit to Lourdes, France, on September 26 and 27, but no association or collective will participate as such in the meeting. This was confirmed by the Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, Jean-Marc Micas, who explained that the decision was made to receive the selected individuals individually due to the high number of requests.
“No collective, neither from Bétharram nor from any other place,” will be invited to the meeting, Micas specified this Friday during a press conference dedicated to the preparations for the papal visit. The location, time, and final composition of the group will remain confidential to protect those who have agreed to participate.
The French Episcopal Conference (CEF) has indicated that seven victims will be received by Leo XIV, although Micas noted that the number still needs to be finalized. Among the participants could be, on an individual basis, victims of the abuses reported at the former Catholic school Notre-Dame de Bétharram, located about fifteen kilometers from Lourdes.
Bétharram collective denounces “institutional contempt”
The decision has sparked protests from the Bétharram victims’ collective, which had sought to participate as an organization and denounced an “institutional contempt.”
Its spokesperson, Alain Esquerre, explained that they had requested collective representation to convey both their testimony and concrete proposals for action to the Pope. The collective does not know whether any former students of Bétharram who are not part of the organization will be among those ultimately selected.
Micas acknowledged that this possibility exists. When specifically asked about the potential presence of victims from the former Catholic center, he responded that “it can indeed be considered,” but maintained confidentiality regarding the identity of those who will meet with Leo XIV.
The decision to receive individuals rather than organizations also introduces a nuance compared to the initial reports on the preparation of the meeting. When the Vatican officially announced the meeting in August, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, stated that Leo XIV would meet privately with “some individuals who are victims of abuse within the Church” and added that “these victims will themselves participate in the preparation of this meeting.”
The participation of victims in the preparation of the meeting does not, therefore, imply that the associations that represent them will intervene as such.
The precedent of Leo XIV’s meeting in Spain
The Lourdes meeting will take place just over three months after the encounter Leo XIV held with victims of abuse during his trip to Spain. In Madrid, the Pontiff privately received six individuals selected through the Archdiocese of Madrid and the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE).
The composition of that group drew criticism from associations and activists who had requested to meet with the Pope and were excluded from the meeting. Among them were Juan Cuatrecasas and Miguel Ángel Hurtado, who participated in a demonstration in front of the Apostolic Nunciature.
elDiario.es now maintains, citing sources close to the matter, that there was discomfort in Rome over the handling of that episode and that the preparation of the French meeting aims to avoid a similar situation. However, there is no public confirmation from the Holy See presenting the procedure adopted in Lourdes as a correction of what occurred in Spain.
The exclusion of the French collectives as such also shows that the criterion chosen in Lourdes does not respond to the demands of all victims’ associations, as evidenced by the protest from the Bétharram group.
Lourdes and the Rupnik mosaics
The meeting will take place in a sanctuary that in recent years has had to address another issue directly related to abuse: the presence in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of mosaics created by former Jesuit Marko Rupnik, accused by numerous women, several of them religious, of sexual, spiritual, and psychological abuse.
Micas confirmed this Friday that the works will be “definitively out of sight of everyone” and that the future of the basilica’s façade will subsequently be studied. However, the process to conceal them did not begin with the upcoming visit of Leo XIV.
Since 2023, the bishop had been studying what to do with the mosaics after hearing from victims who explained that their presence had become an obstacle to pilgrimage to the sanctuary. In 2024, he ordered that they no longer be illuminated during nighttime processions, and in March 2025, he began covering part of the compositions.
The decision later expanded to cover all of the works. After the Pope’s trip, a new phase will begin to study what to do definitively with the façade, with a commission that is also expected to include artists and theologians.
Read also: Lourdes will definitively cover all of Rupnik’s mosaics and commission new works for the basilica
Micas himself has insisted that the priority is to allow people who have suffered abuse to visit Lourdes without encountering works that for some of them have become a source of suffering.
The Rupnik case remains open in Rome. The Slovenian priest was expelled from the Society of Jesus in 2023 for disobeying restrictions imposed by his superiors and faces a canonical procedure for the accusations brought against him.
The meeting, outside the public program
Leo XIV will arrive in Lourdes on the afternoon of Saturday, September 26, after completing the first part of his trip in Paris. On Sunday, he will meet with the French bishops, celebrate Mass in the sanctuary meadow, and visit the sick and volunteers before also meeting with the contemplative Carmelite nuns.
Read also: Leo XIV receives the presidency of the French episcopate four weeks before his trip to France
The meeting with the victims does not appear with a time or place in the public program of the trip. The Holy See confirmed in August that it would be private and that the victims themselves would participate in its preparation.
Now, Micas has confirmed that the meeting “will indeed take place in Lourdes,” but its circumstances will remain confidential. The established criterion excludes associations as collective representatives, although some of the individuals who belong to them may ultimately meet with the Pontiff on an individual basis.