On the third day of his Apostolic Journey to France, Pope Leo XIV condemned the practices of assisted suicide and euthanasia in an address at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes delivered just weeks after the French ‘aid in dying’ law came into effect.
After holding Mass with an estimated 800,000 in Paris on Saturday, Pope Leo made his way to the Pyrenees town of Lourdes in southwestern France, which has become one of the world’s top pilgrimage sites following a series of recorded apparitions of the Virgin Mary to Saint Bernadette in 1858.
Millions of people head to the town every year, including many sick pilgrims who seek spiritual and physical healing at the Grotto of Lourdes. In response to the large number of ill pilgrims, many ‘hospitalités’ volunteers also descend upon the site to help those in need on their journey to the Sanctuary.
Speaking to a group of sick pilgrims on Sunday, Pope Leo declared that the ill are not a “burden” but the “beating heart of our humanity and a precious treasure for the Church.”
“It is a joy for me to be with you here in Lourdes, where, for more than a hundred and fifty years, pilgrims from every corner of the world have come to entrust their physical, psychological and spiritual sufferings to Jesus through Mary. Indeed, fragility is not hidden here; instead it becomes the place of a sacred encounter,” he said.
LOURDES, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER 27: Faithful gather ahead of mass on September 27, 2026 in Lourdes, France. Pope Leo XIV is making his first official visit to France from September 25-28 with stops in Paris, Lourdes, and Metz. (Photo by Tom Nicholson/Getty Images)
During his address, the Pope spoke of the growing trend in liberal Western nations to legalise assisted suicide, in which patients are provided with life-ending drugs, and euthanasia, in which doctors otherwise intervene to kill a patient under the auspices of relieving suffering.
“The human person is ‘worthy’ simply by virtue of existing and of being destined for eternity. Our dignity cannot be measured or debated,” he declared.
“I know that for some of you, because of particular illnesses and, at times, terrible pain, your horizon may appear dark, uncertain and without hope. But no human law should ever make you lose the certainty of your dignity. On the contrary, 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. It is impossible to regard causing death as something normal. What is legal is not necessarily moral,” Leo said.
“Here in Lourdes, the city of the sick and of hope, I appeal to the entire healthcare community to remember the profound meaning of your vocation, which is to care for a suffering person, not to eliminate that person. Yes, dear friends, be passionate servants of life. No one ever has the right on the basis of laboratory algorithms, to decide the life of a given embryo or elderly person! Medicine must never become the servant of programmed death!” he added.
Last month, France became the fifth European country to legalise both assisted suicide and euthanasia, following in the footsteps of Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Spain. Meanwhile, Austria and Switzerland have also legalised assisted suicide. Other Western nations such as Canada have also legalised both assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Pope Leo XIV cheers a woman on a wheelchair during his meeting with support workers and service users of the structure Accueil Notre-Dame at the Shrine of our Lady of Lourdes, during his visit in Lourdes southwestern France, on September 27, 2026 on the third day of his trip to France. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP via Getty Images)
The Pope had also addressed the issue of life during his visit to the Élysée Palace on Friday, when he met with pro-abortion President Emmanuel Macron, whose government specifically enshrined the right to terminate a pregnancy in the French constitution in 2024.
Leo said protecting the right to life is the “essential foundation of every other human right”, invoking the French Revolution motto of Liberté, égalité, fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity). He also warned against the spread of “genetic manipulation”, “organ buying”, and surrogacy.
“Nowadays there is a temptation to expect science to eliminate or alleviate every form of suffering. This often brings the risk of self-delusion. For when science and technology are not guided by a deeper wisdom, they can offer immediate solutions that apparently address people’s wishes and their pain, but can seriously divert them from the greater good to which they aspire,” he said.
In addition to challenging the anti-life laws passed by his government, Pope Leo appeared to take a dig at President Macron and his secular worldview, warning that a “President of the Republic who claims to be uninterested in the Church and in Catholics would be failing in his duty.”
This came as it was revealed that President Macron would not attend any public events during the Pope’s four-day trip to France, including the Mass held at the Place de Concorde on Saturday. While Macron’s wife Brigitte and his prime minsiter, Sébastien Lecornu, both attended, the President chose to refrain. Several presidential candidates did not follow this stance, including Marine Le Pen, Edouard Philippe, and Gabriel Attal.
Macron’s decision not to attend drew criticism in Paris, including from National Rally MP Julien Odoul, who said that he was “ashamed” of the president’s actions, adding that it damaged France’s standing abroad and its relationship with the Vatican.
“For ten years, what has he done? He has tarnished everything, distorted everything, ruined everything, and never respected anything,” the MP said of Macron. “He’s a president who respects nothing, neither the sacred nor the customs and traditions of our country.”