Pope Leo has arrived in France — in Paris and at the ancient pilgrimage sanctuary of Lourdes — at a moment when the Catholic Church's spiritual authority and its institutional failures occupy the same fraught ground. The visit is at once a traditional act of pastoral ministry and an unavoidable encounter with a country where abuse scandals have left deep wounds in communities of faith. How a pope moves through a landscape of both devotion and grievance says something about the Church's understanding of what healing actually requires.
Pope Leo arrives in France amid Church abuse crisis reckoning
The visit occurs amid ongoing revelations of abuse within the Church, affecting survivors and communities.