Pope says parts of the Church are systemically abusive
"Personally, I prefer to express it in a different way, although I did speak about some organisations within the church who have at times, if you will, as a system, been abusive."
Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives on stage to celebrate a solemn outdoor mass at Place de la Concorde, central Paris, on September 26, 2026 on the second day of his visit to France. (Photo by AFP)
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Pope Leo XIV on Monday said parts of the Catholic Church have sometimes "as a system been abusive", following his meeting with several victims of clerical sex abuse in France.
"Several of them spoke about systemic abuse," the pope told reporters on the plane on his way back to the Vatican, referring to the victims.
"Personally, I prefer to express it in a different way, although I did speak about some organisations within the church who have at times, if you will, as a system, been abusive."
After the meeting, Jerome Guillement, who has written about a priest abusing him as a teenager, said the pontiff understood the "systemic" character of sexual abuse in the Church.
"From his point of view, the perpetrators are individuals, but what allows it to continue is the systemic dimension within the institution," he said.
A 2021 inquiry found that clergy or lay members of the Church had abused about 330,000 minors in France over 70 years.
The pope on Monday said that abuse within the Church also meant that "people's lives of faith are deeply wounded and sometimes even destroyed.
"So there's a particular responsibility of the church to walk with them and to help them seek healing," he said.
Families pray with pope on Paris avenue
"He said hello to you," said her 43-year-old mother Michelle Gomis, beaming, after the popemobile drove past.
They were among an estimated 800,000 faithful who lined the Champs Elysees and adjoining streets in Paris on Saturday to welcome the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics for a giant open-air mass.
"It's such a joy for us to see the pope," said the French mother-of-three of Senegalese origin, before settling down on a blanket with her family to listen to mass on the high-end shopping avenue's sidewalk.
Just an hour earlier, the excitement had built up ahead of the main Paris event of the first official papal visit to the European nation in 18 years.
Agathe Chateau Frilloux sprinted down a long road parallel to the Champs Elysee, her daughter and son running close behind, only just making it to their designated gate before the set cut-off time.
"The door closed just behind us," said the Catholic from the southeastern city of Lyon, catching her breath elated, before they headed into the crowd.
Helicopters could be heard flying overhead as worshippers waved small yellow-and-white Vatican flags by the side of the avenue.
"Hallelujah, hallelujah," sang a group of volunteers in yellow t-shirts.
Parents had arrived equipped with sandwiches, books, playing cards and colouring paper to entertain their children during the wait for the pope on his way to a makeshift alter down the road.
Jeanne de Montagnac, 29, stood by her husband and two-year-old daughter, perched on his shoulders with a telephone number scribbled in biro pen on her arm.
"We're happy that, even if she won't remember it, we're sharing this with her," she said, a small golden cross around her neck.
"It's an important moment for us."
As mass got underway, loudspeakers set up just outside a designer clothes shop blasted the hymns a choir sang at Place de la Concorde, almost two kilometres (1.2 miles) away.
People sitting on the pavement hugged their knees, dropping their heads as they listened to the pope's voice echo across the Champs Elysees.
Others perched on the wall surrounding the elevator exit of a closed-off metro station.
"I think of you, dear families, who, despite the many difficulties you face each day, persevere courageously in your vocation and mission," Pope Leo said.
As he spoke, mothers in the back rows swayed from side to side, hugging exhausted toddlers who had missed nap time.
A child wriggled screaming out of her father's arms, just after the pope said "Peace be upon you" and the avenue fell silent.