Pope Leo on Sunday (September 27) urged the Catholic Church to admit its own failings and heal "deep wounds" inflicted within its ranks, hours before he was set to meet victims of child abuse by priests in France.

Leo, addressing crowds stretching out over a large field near the famed Catholic shrine in Lourdes, said the Church must have the courage to face its past but did not directly reference abuse scandals in France that sparked nationwide shock.

"In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors that have occurred within (the Church), we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord's purifying gaze," the first US pope told an estimated 150,000 people gathered in the field on a sunlit day.

Leo is on a whirlwind three-city, four-day visit to France, where he has again urged the world to reconsider the development of artificial intelligence. He drew around 800,000 people for an outdoor Mass on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on Saturday (September 26).

Local Church leaders are hoping he will help repair the Church's standing after a 2021 report found that some 330,000 French children had been abused by Catholic clergy and lay leaders over seven decades.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

LOURDES, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 27, 2026) (HOST BROADCASTER - No use France)

1. VARIOUS OF POPE LEO ARRIVING FOR MASS / POPE LEO DOING SIGNS OF THE CROSS

2. CROWDS GATHERED FOR MASS

3. VARIOUS OF MASS IN PROGRESS

4. ATTENDEES SITTING

5. POPE LEO SITTING

6. CROWDS

7. VARIOUS OF CHILDREN SINGING

8. ATTENDEES SEATED

9. (SOUNDBITE) (French) POPE LEO, SAYING: (VARIOUS ANGLES)

"Penance is an act of love, carried out in solidarity with the human family. (It is an act of) love for God, because we want to make amends for the wounds our sins have dealt to his heart. (It is also an act of) love for those brothers and sisters of ours who do not heed this call to conversion, and whose sins lead them towards death. This call to conversion also concerns the Church herself as she makes her earthly journey. She must have the courage to begin with herself. In order to heal the deep wounds, infidelities and painful errors that have occurred within her (the Church), we must humbly place ourselves under the Lord’s purifying gaze."

10. MAN PRAYING