Pope urges ‘missionary creativity’ at bishops’ meeting in Lourdes

‘He called for a lot of courage, but also much confidence,’ said Bishop Bruno Valentin of Carcassonne-Narbonne after the meeting. ‘There is no reason to look to the future with fear.’

Pope Leo XIV encouraged French bishops to keep preaching the Gospel, both when surprising numbers of adults request baptism and when the Church finds itself making mistakes or being defied.

On the third day of his visit to France, the Pope met the bishops in their assembly hall in Lourdes, before saying Mass for about 150,000 pilgrims on a field close to the famous grotto.

His address in French touched on the highs and lows bishops have to deal with, from how to integrate the recent wave of new Catholics to dealing with the damage the sexual abuse crisis has done. The Pope was due to meet survivors of that abuse later on Sunday.

Noting the “immense challenges of our time”, the Pope said: “I urge you to show courage, boldness and missionary creativity. Do not be discouraged by the errors, inconsistencies or even falls that have marked the history of this pilgrim people.”

“He called for a lot of courage, but also much confidence,” said Bishop Bruno Valentin of Carcassonne-Narbonne after the meeting. “There is no reason to look to the future with fear.”

The Church has had a sort of revival in recent years, with ever more teenagers and young adults requesting baptism. The bishops are now struggling to integrate these new Catholics, who often don’t know the Church and have several different ways of approaching the faith.

“It is important that you carefully nurture this grace,” said the Pope, who heard testimonies from catechumens and newly-baptised Catholics on Saturday in Paris.

He then mentioned problems, especially France’s strict Church-State split – laïcité – which some say is now being tightened. “I urge you to remain vigilant in defending the freedom and rights of the Church,” he said.

As in other Western countries, he continued, “we see a troubling polarisation, a decline in fraternity, cordiality and the quality of social life, and a resurgence of violence, inequality and poverty”.

The Pope also mentioned “the painful scourge of abuse committed against minors by members of the clergy” and noted the “courageous measures to respond through listening, the search for truth, justice, forgiveness and making amends”.

“You must continue along the path you have begun, maintaining the greatest vigilance,” he said.

After the meeting, Pope Leo celebrated Mass before about 150,000 pilgrims, some who came to Lourdes in wheelchairs. First he toured the crowd in his popemobile, stopping frequently to bless babies hand to his security guards by mothers behind the crowd barriers.

The Mass was in French and Latin, with the Universal Prayer said in five other languages. Each request ended in the phrase that translates as “that the world may have life”.

That motto of the trip is seen as a veiled criticism of the French government, which recently legalised assisted suicide and euthanasia despite Church opposition.

Visiting the hospital complex at Lourdes, next to where he said Mass, Pope Leo told a crowd of ailing pilgrims – many in wheelchairs or using walkers – that the Church approves of palliative care at the end of life but no further.

“We must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion,” he said. “It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral.”

The Pope arrived in Lourdes on Saturday evening and visited the grotto, where he prayed for “the gift of fraternal harmony” for France.

After the Mass on Sunday, he was also scheduled to visit a contemplative community of religious sisters and to meet seven victims of the sexual abuse scandal before joining the traditional torchlight procession around the sanctuary in the evening.

Attentiveness to the sick, prayers at the Grotto, the procession, are unchanged

Leo’s French lesson

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