Pope Leo XIV condemned the legalization of medically assisted death Sunday as immoral “false compassion,” reaffirming Catholic teaching on the sanctity of life during a visit to Lourdes, the French shrine associated with miraculous healings.
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XIV → condemn → healings
On the third day of his visit to France, Leo again waded into the end-of-life debate unfolding in his native U.S. and countries around the world.
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Leo → wad → world
The issue roiled French politics for years before lawmakers recently approved legislation allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication.
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adults → roil → medication
Leo also met on Sunday with seven survivors of clergy sexual abuse, in what has now become a regular appointment for popes on foreign visits.
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what → meet → visits
The aim is to atone for the Catholic Church’s failure to protect its youngest and most vulnerable members from predator priests.
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aim → atone → priests
“It was extraordinary,” said survivor Jean-Marie Delbos, who joined four others at a press conference afterward to praise Leo for the encounter, saying he listened and was informed of their cases.
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he → say → cases
“I never thought I would have a pope before me.”
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I → think → me
A message about end-of-life care
Leo’s visit to the once staunchly Catholic and officially secular France has been marked by huge crowds — 800,000 at Leo’s Mass on Paris’ iconic Place de la Concorde — and his messaging against abortion and assisted dying.
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visit → mark → abortion
France’s National Assembly in 2024 enshrined abortion as a constitutional right and recently gave final approval to its end-of-life bill.
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Assembly → enshrine → bill
On Sunday, the American pope celebrated Mass before some 150,000 people — many in wheelchairs — on the prairie next to Lourdes’ main basilica.
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pope → celebrate → basilica
He then visited a care center for sick people on the sanctuary’s grounds.
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He → visit → grounds
He sought to encourage especially those who live in “terrible pain” that they have inherent dignity that no law or algorithm can “eliminate.”
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law → seek → that
“On the contrary, it is precisely in the name of this inalienable dignity of the human person that we must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion,” he said.
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he → reject → compassion
"What is legal is not necessarily moral,” Leo said to applause from the crowd.
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Leo → say → crowd
Catholic teaching holds that all human life must be protected and defended from conception until natural death, leading to its firm opposition to abortion, euthanasia and medically assisted dying.
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life → hold → abortion
Leo had specifically criticized a medical-aid-in-dying law that took effect on Sept. 12 in his home state of Illinois — the 13th U.S. state with such a law.
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that → criticize → law
Lourdes became a major pilgrimage destination after the Catholic Church officially recognized visions of the Virgin Mary reported here by a young girl in 1858.
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Church → become → 1858
The site near the Spanish border draws millions of pilgrims each year, especially sick and disabled believers hoping for a cure from the famed spring water in the Lourdes grotto where the visions purportedly occurred.
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visions → draw → grotto
As a result in Lourdes, where the church has recognized 72 “miraculous” cures as authentic, the question of respecting even the most frail, sick and vulnerable is particularly acute.
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question → recognize → frail
Survivors visit Lourdes as part of their healing process
More recently, Lourdes has also become a place of healing for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and it was chosen as the site for Leo's encounter with victims.
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it → visit → victims
Leo met with them in a group and one-on-one in an encounter that lasted nearly two hours
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that → meet → encounter
, the Vatican said.
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Vatican → say → ?
The pope "listened to their stories, the pain and suffering they had endured — sometimes, unfortunately, with the complicity or silence of those who could have helped them — and their suggestions for ensuring that this does not happen again,” the Vatican said in a statement.
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Vatican → listen → statement
Olivier Mardi, co-founder of Voix Libérées de Touraine, a survivor group, said he perceived that Leo was a decisive “man of engagement” who had done his homework going into the meeting.
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who → say → meeting
He said Leo knew Mardi's case and asked him precise questions.
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Leo → say → questions
“He's not fooled; he knows that these incidents will continue and that we must remain vigilant,” he said.
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he → fool → ?
“There was an emotional side to it, and at the same time, something very powerful when he spoke.”
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he → be → time
The French church has faced a brutal reckoning with its legacy of abuse.
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church → face → 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 put in place an independent system of compensation for victims that to date has recommended the church pay out more than 20 million euros ($22.7 million).
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church → put → euros
During a meeting with French bishops on Sunday morning, Leo praised their response to victims and urged them to continue.
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Leo → praise → them
But he also acknowledged that the cratering in priestly vocations in the French church is related to the scandal, given the priesthood is now sometimes viewed with suspicion.
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priesthood → acknowledge → suspicion
“For priestly vocations to flourish, the priest must be welcomed, accepted, and loved,” Leo said.
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Leo → flourish → ?
Monsignor Pierre-Antoine Bozo, spokesperson for the bishops’ conference, said Leo intentionally wanted to keep the encounter with victims small to facilitate an intimate encounter.
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Leo → say → encounter
“When it comes to listening to them, you can’t have 50 people in front of you,” he said.
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he → come → you
“So I think that’s really what the pope chose: to listen so that we can act and respond more effectively.”
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we → think → what
Mosaics are a painful reminder of alleged abuse
In Lourdes, Leo was also 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, a religious mosaic artist.
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façade → design → Rupnik
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
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
