Pope Leo XIV Calls Assisted Dying 'False Compassion' at Lourdes

Pope Leo XIV told a crowd of roughly 150,000 people at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes on Sunday that legalizing medically assisted death amounts to immoral "false compassion," directly challenging France's recent legislation allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication, according to the Associated Press.

What did Pope Leo XIV say about assisted dying at Lourdes?

Celebrating Mass on the prairie beside the shrine's main basilica, Leo told the gathered pilgrims — many in wheelchairs — that no law or algorithm can "eliminate" the inherent dignity of people suffering "terrible pain," the AP reported. "It is precisely in the name of this inalienable dignity of the human person that we must reject the temptation to cause death under the guise of false compassion," he said. He added a line that drew applause from the crowd: "What is legal is not necessarily moral."

What is the French assisted-dying law he referenced?

The remarks landed against the backdrop of French legislation, passed after years of political debate, that allows adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication, according to the AP. The pope did not name the law directly, but the timing and setting — a shrine tied to healing and disability — made the target of his homily unmistakable. Supporters of such laws in France and elsewhere have generally framed them as extending patient autonomy to people facing terminal or incurable conditions; the AP's dispatch does not quote French officials or lawmakers responding to Leo's remarks.

What else happened during the Lourdes Mass?

After the Mass, Leo visited a care center for sick people on the sanctuary's grounds, where he told those in attendance that their disabilities and suffering are not obstacles to dignity. "Your crutches, your wheelchairs and your hidden tears are not obstacles; instead, they are the very place where you are fully respected and welcomed," he said, per the AP. He described Lourdes as "blessed as a place for professing the beauty and sanctity of life, for life is welcomed here as a precious gift from God."

By the numbers

• 150,000 — attendees at Leo's Mass near the Lourdes basilica, per the AP
• 800,000 — crowd size at Leo's earlier Mass on Paris's Place de la Concorde, per the AP
• 72 — "miraculous" cures the Catholic Church has recognized as authentic at Lourdes, per the AP
• 330,000 — children estimated to have been abused over 70 years by roughly 3,000 individuals in the French church, according to a 2021 independent report cited by the AP

Why is Lourdes significant to this visit?

Lourdes became a major pilgrimage site after the Catholic Church recognized visions of the Virgin Mary reported by a young girl there in 1858, and it now draws millions of pilgrims annually, many of them sick or disabled believers seeking a cure from the shrine's spring water, the AP reported. Leo arrived Saturday night, prayed inside the Grotto of Apparitions and drank from the spring before Sunday's public Mass. One pilgrim from Paris, Pierre Caziljc, told the AP that the pope "has given a message of hope for France, a message of hope and greatness for France, and renewal for France."

What has Leo said elsewhere in France on this trip?

Sunday's homily was the latest instance of Leo, on the third day of his French visit, invoking Catholic teaching that human life must be protected "from conception until natural death," a doctrine that underpins the church's opposition to abortion, euthanasia and medically assisted dying, according to the AP. Leo has repeatedly called for renewed respect for life during stops in the officially secular country, drawing large crowds at each appearance, including the 800,000-strong Mass in Paris.

What's next for Leo in Lourdes?

Later Sunday, Leo was scheduled to meet with seven survivors of clergy sexual abuse, including one abused as an adult, the AP reported — a meeting framed as recognition of what the wire service called the "new frontier" of the abuse crisis facing the church. France's Catholic institutions have faced sustained scrutiny since a 2021 independent report estimated 330,000 children were abused over seven decades by an estimated 3,000 individuals connected to the church.

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