The Pope Calls for the Fight Against the "Plague" of Sexual Violence and Rejects Euthanasia

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Pope Leo XIV called on the bishops of France from the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes on the third day of his visit to the country to "continue" the struggle against the "painful plague" represented by crimes against children in the church, reiterating his opposition to euthanasia.

After more than a million people participated in the mass he held in Paris, about 150,000 people gathered to attend an outdoor mass in Lourdes at the foot of the Pyrenees mountains.

Pope Leo XIV, like Benedict XVI in 2008 and John Paul II in 1983 and 2004, held a massive mass at the Shrine of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, which attracts a large number of visitors.

During his various interventions on Sunday, he addressed many controversial issues in the view of the Catholic Church, most notably euthanasia, secularism, and Catholic education. He had previously sent messages regarding this to French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday.

At the conclusion of the mass he presided over at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes, Pope Leo XIV called on "all believers and all Christian communities to recite the Rosary during the upcoming month of October, with a special intention that wars may cease and peace may prevail among warring nations."

The Pope, during his visit to a center in Lourdes for the sick and disabled, said, "I know that the horizon may seem dark and unclear with no way out for some of you, due to certain diseases and sometimes terrible pains. However, no human law should make you lose confidence in your dignity. On the contrary, in the name of this inalienable dignity that every human being possesses, the temptation to end life under the pretext of false compassion must be categorically rejected."

He emphasized that "it is impossible to consider ending life as a natural matter. What is permitted by law is not necessarily moral."

Pope Leo XIV also addressed the issue of sexual violence within the church in Lourdes, a matter of great importance in France, where a report released five years ago revealed that 330,000 minors had been subjected to such acts since 1950.

The Pope had previously urged the bishops of France during a closed meeting to "continue" confronting the "scourge" of sexual violence "with greater vigilance."

The Pope concluded his day with a special meeting with seven victims of sexual violence who praised the initiative that was established by Leo XIV in the context of the wide scope of this affliction, according to one of the attendees.