A moving testimony, from OSV News:
French survivors of clergy sexual abuse who met with Pope Leo XIV in Lourdes said they were struck by the pontiff’s deep personal empathy and his frank acknowledgment of the institutional failures that allowed the crisis to fester within the Church.
Speaking at an invitation-only press conference in Lourdes following the Sept. 27 audience, five of the seven survivors who took part — Véronique Garnier, Olivier Mardi, Jérôme Guillement, Bertrand Virieux, and Jean-Marie Delbos — said the encounter shattered their expectations. Two other participants chose to remain anonymous.
According to the Vatican, the pope met with the survivors — four men and three women — individually and as a group. “Pope Leo expressed his closeness to them and, through them, to all those who have suffered and still suffer from the wounds of the abuse they endured,” the Vatican said…
… Delbos described himself as a “notorious nonbeliever,” who had left the Catholic Church since his abuse 65 years ago.
Yet he was amazed to be present at the papal Mass in Lourdes, admitting he was “deeply moved,” and even more so during his meeting with Pope Leo.
“Making the sign of the cross — you wouldn’t have expected that from me,” Delbos told journalists. “But I swear, when he gathered us and said, ‘I am going to bless you,’ I made the sign of the cross. Even a notorious non-believer like me — that man made me make the sign of the cross after 65 years.”
While the pain of his abuse would remain for the rest of his life, Delbos admitted that he has a new perspective on “what the Church is, and who this pope is.”
“He really shook me up,” he said. “And I’m not usually the type of person who gets emotional easily. But I can tell you, I felt something there I never would have imagined.”
Delbos said he told the pope about the abuse he suffered at Notre-Dame de Bétharram. According to the Reuters news agency, some 250 complaints were filed in 2025 by former students who were abused at the Catholic boarding school since the 1950s.
The survivor said he told Pope Leo that the priest who abused him “was promoted” within his congregation, the Bétharram Fathers, and was never punished, adding that he asked for the religious congregation to be dissolved.
“I understand that dissolving a congregation will not happen in the coming days. There will certainly be studies of possibilities,” Delbos said. “But he listened. And just having the pope listen to a poor wretch like me propose something like that — I must admit it gave me great confidence.”
