POPE LEO CALLS FOR CHURCH TO FACE PAST MISTAKES

PARIS, SEPTEMBER 27 /SRNA/ - Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass today with 150,000 worshippers in the French pilgrimage town of Lourdes, during which he acknowledged what he described as deep wounds, breaches of trust and painful failings committed within the Roman Catholic Church.

"Acknowledging our mistakes is essential for our spiritual growth," the head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics said in his homily.

Pope Leo was later due to hold a private meeting with a small group of victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, DPA reported.

As in other countries, such abuse in France was covered up for decades.

According to an independent investigative commission, there have been more than 200,000 victims of sexual abuse since 1950.

During his visit to Lourdes, the Pope is also confronted with the case of former Slovenian Jesuit priest and artist Marko Rupnik, who is suspected of sexually abusing nuns over several decades.

Proceedings against him are under way before a special Vatican tribunal.

Rupnik was one of the designers of the entrance doors to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Lourdes.

The Pope did not see the artwork, however, as it had been covered on the orders of the local bishop.

The small town of Lourdes in southwestern France, with a population of 13,400, is one of Europe's best-known pilgrimage sites. According to Catholic belief, the Virgin Mary appeared there several times to a 14-year-old girl in the mid-19th century.

The Pope arrived in France on Friday for a three-day visit.