When an ailing Pope John Paul II visited the French shrine at Lourdes in 2004, on his last foreign trip, he delivered a forceful condemnation of abortion and euthanasia as he gasped for air during Mass.
Pope Leo XIV is expected to make a similar appeal to protect life when he visits France this weekend and also prays at Lourdes.
asserted
he → ail → Lourdes
One of Christianity’s most-visited pilgrimage destinations is especially popular for sick people because of its association with miraculous cures.
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One → visit → cures
Leo’s message will likely land differently, since France’s National Assembly in 2024 enshrined abortion as a constitutional right and recently gave final approval to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication.
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adults → land → medication
It was the culmination of years of debate over end-of-life care in France and comes as other countries in Europe and the Americas have increasingly legalized assisted dying, though British lawmakers recently voted down a bill allowing it.
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lawmakers → come → it
Catholic teaching holds that life must be defended from conception until natural death.
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life → hold → death
It insists that chronically ill patients, including those in vegetative states, must receive “ordinary” care such as hydration and nutrition, but that “extraordinary” or disproportionate care can be suspended if it is only prolonging a precarious and painful life.
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it → insist → life
With Leo’s blessing, French bishops decided the official motto of his trip would be “That the world may have life,” suggesting that protecting human life and human dignity will be an overarching theme of the visit.
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protecting → decide → visit
Leo has emphasized the need to protect the dignity of all human life, from immigrants to the sick and unborn, most significantly in his inaugural encyclical on safeguarding human dignity in the age of artificial intelligence.
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Leo → emphasize → intelligence
Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, president of the bishops’ conference, said he expected Leo would raise the issue.
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Leo → say → issue
“We already know that the question of life and respect for life — not only from an ethical standpoint, but in many ways — is at the heart of the pope’s message and aligns very closely with the message of the Gospel.
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question → know → Gospel
A secular but Catholic country
France is a traditionally Catholic country, but adheres to a strict form of secularism in public life based on a 1905 law separating church and state.
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France → adhere → church
And like many countries in the once-traditionally Christian West, France has seen the influence of the Catholic Church wane amid secularizing trends and the impact of the clergy sexual abuse scandal on its credibility.
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influence → see → credibility
Yet French bishops have expressed astonishment at the level of interest in the pope’s Sept. 25-28 visit and say they expect 1 million people will see him.
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people → express → him
Due to larger-than-expected crowds, organizers lengthened the perimeter for Leo’s main Mass at the central Place de la Concorde, extending the site beyond the 1.9-kilometer (1.2-mile) length of the Champs-Elysees where he’ll parade down in his popemobile.
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he → expect → popemobile
Leo elicited a similar level of interest in secular Spain in June, where he received a seven-minute standing ovation after his speech to the Spanish Parliament.
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he → elicit → Parliament
“I think nobody many months ago or a few months ago would have imagined” the level of interest, said Sister Nathalie Becquart, a top Vatican official from France.
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Becquart → think → France
“But they see what happened in Spain.”
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what → see → Spain
Like Spain, France has seen a trend of new adult baptisms in recent years, particularly among conservative young adults, many of whom are attracted to more traditional forms of worship including the old Latin Mass.
More than 13,000 adults were baptized at Easter this year in France, where the number of adult baptisms has more than tripled since 2016, the French bishops’ conference reported.
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conference → see → 2016
Leo will meet with some of these new converts in a special audience.
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Leo → meet → audience
But experts caution these numbers don’t counteract the overall generational trend of the children of practicing French Catholics no longer going to Mass or baptizing their babies.
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Catholics → caution → babies
“The new phenomenon of adult baptisms is put into perspective; in fact, it represents only a very modest rebound,” said Christian Marquant, a traditionalist Catholic who blames the secularizing crisis in the French church on the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
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who → put → Council
AI and peace also on Leo’s itinerary
Leo is bookending his trip to France with two events to broaden his message to an international audience.
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Leo → bookende → audience
On Day 1, he visits UNESCO to speak about artificial intelligence and the value of education and art.
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he → visit → education
In his AI encyclical “Magnificent Humanity,” Leo called for robust AI regulation and for developers to slow down — a stance they have recently taken as a group.
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they → call → group
Leo’s position on AI has put him at odds with the Trump administration, which has encouraged AI innovation so the U.S. can compete with and surpass China.
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U.S. → put → China
The visit to UNESCO by the American pope is significant, given the Trump administration has once again announced it is withdrawing from the U.N. cultural agency, part of its broader retreat from international organizations.
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it → give → organizations
On his final day, Sept. 28, Leo will visit the northern French city of Metz, the birthplace of Robert Schuman, one of the founding fathers of European integration.
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Leo → visit → integration
Leo will participate in a meeting with other faith leaders and then speak at a European conference on peace, at a time of war in Ukraine and beyond.
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Leo → participate → Ukraine
The Vatican took the unusual step of announcing ahead of time that Leo would meet with victims of clergy sexual abuse while in France.
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Leo → take → France
The gathering of seven survivors includes one who was an adult when abused, a recognition of the new frontier of the abuse crisis facing the church.
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who → include → church
The French church has endured a brutal reckoning with its legacy of abuse.
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church → endure → abuse
An independent report in 2021 estimated 330,000 children had been abused over 70 years by some 3,000 priests and church workers.
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children → estimate → priests
Despite criticism of the report’s methodology and conclusions, French bishops nevertheless put in place an independent system of compensation for victims that to date has recommended the church pay out more than 20 million euros.
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church → put → euros
In Lourdes, Leo will be reminded of a prickly abuse case inherited from Pope Francis.
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Leo → remind → Francis
The façade of one of the Lourdes basilicas was designed by the Rev. Marko Rupnik, one of the Catholic Church’s most famous mosaic artists.
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façade → design → artists
Rupnik is currently on trial in a Vatican court, accused by more than two dozen women of having psychologically, spiritually and sexually abused them starting in the 1990s, including during the creation of his artworks.
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Rupnik → accuse → artworks
His case was covered up for three decades by his Jesuit superiors, and even Francis was suspected of having protected his fellow Jesuit.
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Francis → cover → Jesuit
Amid a media outcry, Francis in 2024 ordered a canonical trial, which is ongoing.
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which → order → trial
The Rupnik case posed the question of what to do with his mosaics, which adorn basilicas around the world.
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which → pose → world
In 2024, Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas decided to no longer illuminate the façade of the Notre Dame du Rosaire Basilica at night.
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Micas → decide → night
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
