Pope Leo XIV arrived in Lourdes on Saturday evening for his first visit to the renowned Catholic pilgrimage site, where he prayed at the Massabielle Grotto before leading an open-air Mass on the Prairie on Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of faithful were expected to attend the outdoor liturgy, continuing a pilgrimage that has drawn massive crowds during his visit to France.
The visit carries deep symbolic weight for the pope, who has framed his trip around purification and healing, including healing from the Church's recent sexual abuse scandals. In Lourdes, he planned to meet with bishops, the sick, and support staff, as well as with seven victims of sexual assault committed by clergy, in a gesture of repentance and accountability.
Lourdes has been a place of reported miracles since 1858, when a 14-year-old peasant girl named Bernadette Soubirous said she experienced 18 visions of the Virgin Mary at the Massabielle Grotto. She was later canonized as a saint. The site has since become one of the world's most visited religious destinations, drawing millions seeking physical and spiritual healing each year.
Dr. Alessandro de Franciscis, who recently retired as president of the Lourdes Office of Medical Observation after 17 years of reviewing treatments and possible miracle cures, spoke about the pope's visit and his own upcoming meeting with him. He said the pope was visiting Lourdes in the name of purification and healing, and he expressed admiration for the pontiff. «I think I love him,» de Franciscis said. «I think he's doing very well as pope. He's talking of the challenges that we have.» He noted the pope's first encyclical letter on artificial intelligence and the good that technology can bring to the world, adding, «He's a guy from Chicago. I love him. We all love him!»
During his visit, the pope was scheduled to meet with people whose healings have been investigated and later recognized by the Church. Among them is Sister Bernadette Moriau, who was cured of a spinal condition and was able to walk again, and Antonietta Raco, who in 2009 was cured of the severe neurodegenerative disease primary lateral sclerosis. He also planned to meet Delizia Cirolli, who was cured of Ewing's sarcoma, a right knee cancer, when she was only 7 years old in the late 1970s.
De Franciscis emphasized that for Lourdes and for the pope, spiritual and physical healing lead to both minor and major miracles. He also spoke about the hospitaliers, the aptly named «angels of Lourdes,» who care for the sick there. In his view, much of the healing associated with visits to Lourdes and the Grotto is spiritual and often goes unrecognized, remaining below the radar. «I think that statistically, these so-called spiritual cures are so, so much more numerous than the physical ones that we know,» he said from Lourdes as he anticipated the pope's visit.
He described how people come to serve and help others, only to leave the experience changed for the better. «People come here to serve, they think they come here to help others — and instead they come out of this experience being so much better,» de Franciscis said. «And they go back to their work and their lives and their families, and they're so relieved, I would say, they've really changed. So I think this aspect is very, very interesting.»
The pope's visit to Lourdes follows a massive outdoor Mass in Paris that drew an estimated 800,000 faithful, underscoring the scale of his popularity and the significance of his first trip to the shrine. His schedule in Lourdes included time for prayer at the Grotto, the open-air Mass, and private meetings with bishops, the sick, and support staff, as well as the encounter with abuse victims.
The Lourdes Office of Medical Observation, which de Franciscis led for 17 years, is responsible for reviewing reported healings and determining whether they defy medical explanation. The Church has officially recognized a small number of miracles at Lourdes out of thousands of reported cures, reflecting a rigorous process that combines medical scrutiny with theological judgment. The pope's meetings with miracle recipients and abuse victims alike reflect a dual focus on physical and spiritual restoration, and on the Church's need for repentance and renewal.