Pope Leo XIV will visit Lourdes this weekend during a four-day trip to France, the first official papal state visit there in 18 years. He will pray at the grotto, meet seven survivors of sexual abuse, celebrate Mass and join a torchlight Rosary procession.
The sanctuary draws about 3 million pilgrims each year, including roughly 60,000 sick and disabled people. The Catholic Church has officially recognized 72 healings as miraculous among more than 7,000 cases examined since 1858. Lourdes spring water is free, but has no therapeutic or specific properties.
Mosaics by Slovenian artist Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik on the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary will be covered during the visit. Women and nuns have made claims of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse by Rupnik dating to the 1990s; the Vatican confirmed this summer that a church trial against him is ongoing.
