VATICAN CITY (AP) 鈥 When an ailing 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.
is expected to make a similar appeal to protect life when he visits France this weekend and also prays at Lourdes. One of Christianity鈥檚 most-visited pilgrimage destinations is especially popular for sick people because of its association with miraculous cures.
Leo鈥檚 message will likely land differently, since France鈥檚 National Assembly in 2024 enshrined and recently gave final approval to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication. It was the culmination of 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 a bill allowing it.
Catholic teaching holds that life must be defended from conception until natural death. It insists that chronically ill patients, including those in vegetative states, must receive 鈥渙rdinary鈥 care such as hydration and nutrition, but that 鈥渆xtraordinary鈥 or disproportionate care can be suspended if it is only prolonging a precarious and painful life.
With Leo鈥檚 blessing, French bishops decided the official motto of his trip would be 鈥淭hat the world may have life,鈥 suggesting that protecting human life and human dignity will be an overarching theme of the 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.
Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, president of the bishops鈥 conference, said he expected Leo would raise the issue. 鈥淲e already know that the question of life and respect for life 鈥 not only from an ethical standpoint, but in many ways 鈥 is at the heart of the pope鈥檚 message and aligns very closely with the message of the Gospel.鈥
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.
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.
Yet French bishops have expressed astonishment at the level of interest in the pope鈥檚 Sept. 25-28 visit and say they will see 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.
Leo elicited a similar level of interest in secular Spain in June, where he received a after his speech to the Spanish Parliament.
鈥淚 think nobody many months ago or a few months ago would have imagined鈥 the level of interest, said Sister Nathalie Becquart, a top Vatican official from France. 鈥淏ut they see what happened in Spain.鈥
, 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鈥 conference reported. Leo will meet with some of these new converts in a special 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.
In 1980, there were 513,000 baptisms in France; in 2024, a total of 186,000. 鈥淭he new phenomenon of adult baptisms is put into perspective; in fact, it represents only a very modest rebound,鈥 said Christian Marquant, a traditionalist Catholic who blames the secularizing crisis in the French church on the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican 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. On Day 1, he visits UNESCO to speak about and the value of education and art.
In his AI encyclical 鈥淢agnificent Humanity,鈥 Leo called for and for developers to slow down 鈥 a stance they have recently taken as a 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.
The visit to UNESCO by the American pope is significant, given the Trump administration has once again announced it is , part of its broader retreat from international 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.
Leo will participate in a meeting with other faith leaders and then speak at a European conference on peace, at a time of and beyond.
Clergy sexual abuse on the agenda
The Vatican took the unusual step of announcing ahead of time that Leo would meet with victims of clergy sexual abuse while in France. The gathering of seven survivors includes one who was an adult when abused, a recognition of the facing the church.
The French church has endured a brutal reckoning with its legacy of abuse. An estimated 330,000 children had been abused over 70 years by some 3,000 priests and church workers.
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.
In Lourdes, Leo will be reminded of a prickly abuse case inherited from Pope Francis.
The fa莽ade of one of the Lourdes basilicas was designed by the Rev. Marko Rupnik, one of the Catholic Church鈥檚 most famous mosaic 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.
His case was covered up for three decades by his , and even Francis was suspected of having protected his fellow Jesuit. Amid a media outcry, Francis in 2024 ordered a canonical trial,
The Rupnik case posed the question of what to do with his mosaics, which adorn basilicas around the world.
In 2024, Lourdes Bishop Jean-Marc Micas decided to the fa莽ade of the Notre Dame du Rosaire Basilica at night. He subsequently ordered the decorated doors covered, and more recently decided to cover the fa莽ade鈥檚 mosaics entirely. He reasoned that abuse victims who come to Lourdes for healing shouldn't be forced to see them.
Since some of the abuse was allegedly committed during the creation of the mosaics, 鈥渋t is impossible to separate the work of art from the abuse,鈥 said Laura Sgro, attorney for five women who accused Rupnik and have welcomed Micas' decision to cover the mosaics.
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